Government provides loans to hotel businesses

24-03-2007 12:36:36 – KarabakhOpen

This year a few businesses have applied for hotel business loans, said
Armen Avagyan, the director of Artsakh Agency for Development, in an
interview with KarabakhOpen. The agency approved the applications,
which will be financed by Artsakhbank.

Armen Avagyan says last year the government allocated 106 million
drams for loaning businesses providing services, including 50 million
for hotel business and 6 million for business support.

Tourism is a priority, said the director of the Agency. `Last year we
financed 5 business projects on development of hotels,’ said Armen
Avagyan.

According to the National Statistics Service, 3294 tourists from over
50 countries visited Karabakh in 2006. The number of tourists dropped
by 426 or 11.5 percent compared with 2005. 1118 tourists, or 33.9
percent arrived from the United States, 463 or 14.1 percent arrived
from France, 267 or 8.1 percent from Canada.

In 2006, there were 8 hotels admitting 219 people in the country. 6
hotels admitting 175 people were in Stepanakert.