YEREVAN, DECEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Tourism authorities in Armenia say the number of inbound tourists will pass 900,000 by yearend.

816,000 tourists visited Armenia in January-November 2021.

The First Vice Chairman of the Tourism Committee Artur Khachatryan told ARMENPRESS in an interview that while they are unhappy with the figures, the year 2021 was rather active for Armenia’s tourism sector.

“This year’s data isn’t finalized yet, but with November’s data we’ve had 816,000 inbound tourists. I think with December’s data we will pass the 900,000 threshold. If we compare it with the figures of the difficult period of 2020, we’ve had 50% growth. But comparing to the data of 2019 we are still 50% behind. We have things to do to reach the threshold of 2019 and move forward,” Khachatryan said.

Most tourists come from Russia, Iran, the United States, Germany, Georgia and France. Some other countries are considered as potential inbound tourism markets – the Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. Khachatryan says a marketing campaign is underway to promote tourism to Armenia in these countries. The promotion activities will continue in 2022.

Most tourists from Russia and Iran are interested in visiting the historical-cultural sites in Armenia, as well as “gastro-tourism” and “adventure-tourism”, Khachatryan said.

Artur Khachatryan said that their committee is developing a new bill for parliament’s approval aimed at regulating the tourism sector. He said they developed the bill not only as a result of studying international experience, but also given Armenia’s obligations assumed before the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union.

The law will enable to ensure the quality of services and will introduce a registration system of tourism entities and operations, as well as a voluntary qualification procedure for enabling a more stable and competitive arena. Supervisory mechanisms are also envisaged.

Interview by Anna Gziryan