ONLY 0.08% OF EUROPEAN TOURISTS VISIT ARMENIA
Panorama.am
12:57 03/07/2008
Recently governmental approve of the ‘conception on tourism promote’
will be realized in stages. The first stage is planned to realize in
2008-2011 and the rest stages will be planned after the monitoring
of realized projects, being held in that period. Mekhak Apresyan,
the head of tourism office of the ministry of Economy, informs it
to Panorama.am.
According to the head of the office the aim of the ‘conception on
tourism promote’ is to describe and evaluate the Armenian tourism
resources, trends and prospective of tourism development in Armenia,
as well as define the main aim of state policy in this sphere,
evaluate war-calls and obstacles decide problems, directions and
principles of state policy for the realization of the goal.
‘The main problem of the project is to develop eco-tourism, rural
and communal tourism, winter tourism as well as resort and healthcare
tourism’,-he added.
Apresyan notified that Armenia, being a stable country for business
and inculcation, safe and attractive for tourism, rich with natural and
historical resources has an opportunity to offer various, competitive
tourism results and high-quality service to international tourism
market and added that during the last 10 years an unprecedented
evolution has been registered, but comparing with international
scale, few people visited Armenia. Only 0.08% of European and 0.04 %
of would tourists visit Armenia. What concerns the income of inter
country tourism; in 2006 it used to be 299mln. US dollars.
He said that in order to realize the aim of state policy in the
sphere of tourism it is necessary to satisfy stable development of
tourism which demands the active and efficient cooperation of all
interested sides: members of state and local governments, private
sectors and inhabitants.
According to Apresyan the aim of state policy in tourism is to widen
the input of the sphere in national economy, create conditions for
the development territorial economy at the same time struggling
against poverty.
The head of the office said that it helps to realize the rise of
tourists` number at the same time increase the income and offered
more high-quality tourism results and new work places. For solution
of the problem of this sphere it is necessary for and foremost to
define and develop the sightseeing centers and tourism results,
create price system in Armenia, define the list of services, arouse
target markets, continually study the tends of development, develop
Armenia as an attractive country for tourism.
He assured that these projects will come true and some part of
it is in process of creation. Tourism develops mainly based on
tourism resources: natural, historical, human, and without them it
is impossible to secure its protection and reproduction. It means
none of us is privy.