‘ONE-SIDED’ TOURISM IS DEVELOPING IN ARMENIA, ECOLOGISTS THINK

arminfo
Thursday, August 18, 10:42

Hot Armenian summer has nevertheless brought not bad “tourist” harvest.

“The preliminary public opinion poll has shown that our expectations
from the summer months have justified”, – the head of Tourism
Department of Armenian Economy Ministry, Mekhak Apresyan, said at
today’s press-conference. He also added that the strict information
will voiced later, but nevertheless tourist trips to Armenia may grow
by 20% this year versus 2010. “It grew by 15% in the first half-year
of 2011 versus the same period of 2010”, – he said.

Despite such a rosy picture, the head of the non-governmental
organization “Ecolur” Inga Zarafyan said that a “one-sided” tourism has
been developing in Armenia, as our cultural and historical heritage
attracts tourists but mot the nature of the republic. She also added
that at present several resorts of Armenia are in hard situation,
including Sevan, where the works on cleaning of the inshore territories
are still unsatisfactory.

The situation in Tsakhadzor is also bad, as deforesting was implemented
to build resorts. The same happened in Dilijan. “A true contradiction
between big money and nature has been noticed in Armenia”, –
Zarafyan said.