GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS HAS NO EFFECT ON TOURISM GROWTH IN ARMENIA
ARKA
Dec 4, 2008
YEREVAN, December 4. /ARKA/. Global financial crisis has not affected
the tourism growth in Armenia, Head of Tourism Department of Armenian
Ministry of Economy Mekhak Apresyan said Thursday.
Today tourism growth tends to decline all over the world and the same
trend is seen also in Armenia, but no crisis is expected in the tourism
field in Armenia. Tourism sector continues developing in Armenia
despite the March events in the country and the Russian-Georgian
conflict in August," Apresyan said.
According to the statistics, 402,000 tourists visited Armenia in
January-September – a 10.1% increase against the same period of
last year.
Armenians living abroad constitute 62% of the tourist flow in
Armenia. The remaining part is tourists from Russia, Georgia,
EU countries, the USA and Iran. The stable growth of the number of
tourists visiting the country is the result of a consistent government
policy, Apresyan said.
According to the preliminary information, about 600,000 tourists are
to visit Armenia in 2008.
Apresyan said that Armenian autumn is particularly popular among
tourists and many tourists visit the country in September and October.
Today, over 70 hotels function in Armenia. According to the statistics,
since 2001 average annual growth of tourist visits has been 25%.
Particularly, 318,000 tourists visited Armenia in 2005, 381,000 in
200620 and over 500,000 in 2007.