09:49,

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian pavilion at the annual MITT Moscow tourism expo is of big interest to travel agencies, governmental organizations and potential tourists.

Gayane Ayvazyan, the PR and Digital Marketing expert at the Armenian Tourism Committee told ARMENPRESS from Moscow that they’ve had meetings with tourism representatives from the Russian capital, St. Petersburg, Sochi, as well as representatives of Rostourism and the Association of Tour Operators of Russia and media outlets.

“There is rather big activeness, both individuals and tourism representatives display big interest towards the Armenian pavilion. We’ve had a number of meetings with representatives of the sector. We mostly talked about the importance of cooperation especially in the current conditions [Russian-Ukrainian conflict]. There is big interest from Russia to expand cooperation, they are eager to work more effectively with Armenia. We even talked about proposals on Yerevan becoming a hub from where it will be possible to connect with the world, especially when Russia is under sanctions,” Avyazyan said.

According to Ayvazyan, most of the questions raised during the discussions related to flights. The work of Armenian airlines was highlighted.

13 travel agencies from Armenia are participating in the event.

One of the participants, the Armenia-based Just Travel agency, is presenting tour packages offering adventure, cultural and gastro tourism.

“In this difficult situation, when many countries have shut down the opportunity of visits for Russian citizens, Armenia is one of the few countries where Russian tourists can come,” Just Travel representative Naira Tovmasyan said.

She added that Armenia is a very convenient place also for corporate tourism.

Russia is Armenia’s biggest and primary tourism market. In 2021, more than 350,000 Russian tourists arrived in Armenia, making Russia the top inbound country of origin of tourists.

Anna Gziryan