NUMBER OF RUSSIAN TOURISTS VISITING ARMENIA EXPECTED TO RISE 23% IN 2015

YEREVAN, March 26. /ARKA/. The number of Russian tourists visiting
Armenia is expected to rise 23% in 2015, Arman Khachatyan, acting
executive director of Armenian Development Fund, said on Thursday.

According to the National Statistical Service, Armenia hosted 1,203,746
tourists in 2014 accounting for 11% year-on-year growth.

The number of Russian tourists in Armenia rose 28%. Khachatryan said
that his forecast is grounded on the agreements Armenia signed earlier
this month after participation in ‘Trips and Tourism’ international
exhibition in Russia, which attracted more than 2,000 companies from
over 200 countries.

In his opinion, Armenia’s participation in international tourist
exhibitions intensifies the flow of tourists to Armenia.

“Since the beginning of this year Armenia has taken part in three
large tourist exhibitions in Spain, Germany and Russia,” he said.

“Therefore, we expect that the number of tourists from Spain will rise
5-7 percent, from Germany 18 percent and from Russia about 23 percent.”

FITUR 2015 tourism exhibition was opened in late January in Madrid
and ITB Berlin in early March in Berlin.

According to the figures received from hotels in 2014, tourists from
CIS countries made up 31%, those from EU countries 30.1% and from
other countries 38.5% of the total number of the tourists Armenia
hosted in 2014. —0—-