Tourists from Persian Gulf and Latin American countries show interest towards Armenia

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. 969.010 foreign tourists arrived in Armenia in January-September 2016, interim chairman of the State Tourism Committee of the Ministry of Economic Development and Investments Zarmine Zeytuntsyan told“Armenpress”, stating that this number has increased by 3.6% compared to the same period of 2015.

In January-September 2016, the growth of the number of incoming tour visits is mainly related with the number of visits from Iran, US, Belarus, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, as well as Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Spain, Denmark and Germany.

“The existing statistics gives hope of optimism over the development prospects in Armenia’s tourism field, including also the fact that the geography of the visits has been expanded”, Zeytuntsyan said, adding that currently the Persian Gulf, the Far East, as well as Latin American countries started to show an interest towards Armenia.

Zeytuntsyan said taking into account the growth dynamics of tourism visits in the recent years, and as a a result of the implementation of the 2017 tourism support project, it can be supposed that the annual growth for 2017 will be 5%.

“At the same time, if we compare with the previous year, according to the statistical data, we can say that in the same period of 2015 the tourism visits to Armenia have been decreased by 0.2%. The reduction of the number of incoming tour visits is mainly due to the reduction of visits from Russia and Georgia by 6% and 11% respectively (totally, by over 60.000). According to the data on January-September 2015, the number of outgoing tourists from Russia has been decreased by 31% compared to the same period of 2014, which is mainly linked with regional economic issues”, she said.

Zeytuntsyan said Armenia’s historical and cultural heritage, the rich nature are attractive especially for tourists who visit the country for the first time. “Tourists visiting Armenia are attracted by the hospitality of the people, the rich historical-cultural heritage, and the fact of being a safe country. The tourists are also offered different services, such as cultural events, festivals, which make them to be more interested in Armenia”, she said, adding that the foreign tourists are interested also in Armenian traditions, cuisine, villagers’ life.