ARMENIA’S TOURISM INDUSTRY IS NOT DEVELOPED ENOUGH IN RESPECT OF USING IT TOOLS

Noyan Tapan
Apr 14, 2009

Yerevan, 14 April, Noyan Tapan. A workshop devoted to IT Solutions
for tourism industry was organized on April 14 in Yerevan by the USAID
funded Competitive Armenian Private Sector Project. According to Artak
Ghazarian, deputy director of CAPS, the aim of the event is to raise
the awareness about of new IT products and services applied in the
tourism industry. This goal of the workshop is will foster closer
cooperation between Armenian Information Technology and Tourism
industries, told A.Ghazarian.

Today IT solutions have wide application in the world. For instance,
in the global travel industry we can see online ticketing, payments
and check-in for airline businesses, vehicle tracking systems for
car rental companies, hospitality reservation and room management
applications for hotels, management solutions for general tourism
enterprises, etc, told Ghazarian.

According to him, online market of tourism industry reached 125
billion USD, and within coming five years this figure will grow by
another 100 billion USD.

In A.Ghazarian’s opinion, Armenia’s tourism enterprises, however,
are not developed enough in terms of using IT tools and solutions in
their daily operations. According to him, improvement is expected in
terms of computer usage in Armenia.

According to IT concept, the government projects to increase the number
of computer users over the next 9-10 years to reach 70 per cent,
90 ?per cent in educational institutions, and 100 per cent in state
and local municipal bodies. It means the demand for the new on-line
solutions in the sphere of tourism will grow, told Ghazarian. He
mentioned also, that according to the data of the International
Telecommunication Union, the number of Internet users in Armenia
reached only 6 per cent in 2008. ?With IT having a growing impact on
the global travel industry, and with global tourism arrival numbers
expected to decline in 2009 due to the financial crisis, the need to be
technologically advanced to improve cost-effectiveness and productivity
is as important as ever, Zachary Rozga, CAPS international expert in
IT solutions for the tourism sector says.