"COUNTRY OF TALKING STONES" CTS – 2008 INTERNATIONAL TOURISM EXHIBITION OPENS IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan

Nov 7, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The 8th annual international tourism
exhibition "Country of Talking Stones" CTS – 2008 opened in the lobby
of the Moscow Cinema on November 7. The two-day exhibition has a new
format this year: familiarization trips for foreign tour operators
will be organized in parallel with the exhibition.

During the opening ceremony, the event’s organizer, chairman of the
Armenian Office of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA)
Yeghishe Tanashian said that the tour operators from Uzbekistan,
Finland and Georgia who will go for familiarization trips should
carry out work aimed at bringing tourists to Armenia in the future.

Among participants of CTS – 2008 are 64 organizations, including
13 travel agencies and operators, an airline, 17 hotels and rest
homes, two insurance companies, etc. Representatives of Georgia and
Uzbeksitan, as well as Armenia’s Kotayk, Shirak and Vayots Dzor marzes
(provinces) have their own pavilions.

Mr. Tanashian found it difficult to announce the number of tourist
visits this year, saying that "it is too early to speak about it due
to the unstable situation in the region". According to him, the autumn
inflow of tourists to Armenia has declined because of the situation
in Georgia, but "there has been a growth in the qualitative sense
which is conditioned by the entrance of new markets into Armenia".

The RA minister of economy Nerses Yeritsian stated that the tourism
sector is a field which provides a direct opportunity to present
Armenia to the world. In his words, one peculiarity of the sector is
that it may immediately stimulate an improvement of the quality of
life in marzes. The minister announced that the government has already
developed a 5-year program of measures on developing the sector.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress