DILIJAN REGIONAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CENTER IS OPENED
Panorama.am
16:07 14/11/06
The Dilijan Regional Tourism Information Center officially opened
today in the city. The center’s development has been supported by
USAID, in close collaboration with the Dilijan Mayor’s Office and the
Dilijan Tourism Association (DTA). According to the USAID Yerevan
representative office, the official opening was followed by a tour
of Dilijan’s improved tourist infrastructure.
The establishment of the Tourism Information Center is a major step
in implementation of the Dilijan Pilot Project launched by the CAPS
competitiveness project’s tourism cluster strengthening. In March
2006, Dilijan became the pilot site for USAID’s Competitive Armenian
Private Sector (CAPS) tourism development project.
Since then CAPS has trained local tourism service providers to improve
Dilijan as a tourism destination.
A Tourism Managers of the Future training enriched participants’
knowledge of tourism, hospitality and management. The Information
Center Operations program provided training to local tourism businesses
serving tourists who visit Dilijan. To help market their products and
services, training program participants from ten local tourism-related
businesses have designed and published for the first time brochures
to promote their businesses.
Dilijan’s Pilot Project is also enhancing the physical tourism
infrastructure. Friendly, multi-lingual Information Center staff will
provide high quality customer service to local and foreign visitors on
accommodation, attractions, and other tourist information to make their
stay in Dilijan more enjoyable. A new bicycle rental enterprise will
operate for visitors who want to use the newly marked bike path. CAPS
and the DTA have been placing signs for local attractions and helping
the city to improve the destination in other ways, such as placing
trash containers in high-traffic areas. The Information Center will
also offer Internet access to visitors for a small fee.
Armen Santrosyan, the Mayor of Dilijan and the President of the Dilijan
Tourism Association, said, "Because Dilijan takes such great pride
in its natural beauty, we are very pleased that so many of us have
come together for the benefit of all parties to make improvements
which add value to our tourism product."
Engaging local communities in commonly beneficial projects, CAPS aims
to promote sustainable, cluster-based (a cluster is all stakeholders
including hotels, restaurants, tour operators, local governments and
business associations, for example, in tourism) economic growth by
demonstrating the value of cluster competitiveness. The Dilijan Pilot
Project can become a model for other cities to use in implementing
low-cost, high-impact local tourism development programs to benefit
all stakeholders.
"The USAID CAPS mission is to help companies create jobs, increase
exports and boost revenues through assistance in several areas, for
example, in customer service, branding, market research, marketing,
international best practices," said Hayley Alexander, CAPS Project
Director. "We are working closely with members of the tourism sector to
help Armenians project their natural hospitality and warmth in a more
professional service setting. Our focus is on practical interventions
that we hope can be helpful in making individual businesses, and
Armenia as a whole, more competitive."
"Armenia is at an important point in its tourism development. Even
small numbers of new visitors can have an important positive
economic impact. We plan both individual firm-level assistance,
plus cooperation with existing projects in the areas of training and
education, improvements in the quality of marketing communications,
including more effective translation, promotional materials and
Internet presence. We look forward to working together with tourism
cluster members, and helping them to find new and creative ways to
realize the tremendous potential of this beautiful and historical
land," said Mr. Alexander.