YEREVAN, JUNE 25, ARMENPRESS. The exhibition held in the Chinese city of Qingdao enabled to find out the wine preferences of the Chinese people: they more prefer pomegranate wine. However, the Chinese people didn’t immediately like some types of Armenian wine which can be an indicator for Armenian companies while entering the Chinese market.

Ara Khzmalyan, director of the Armenian Tourism Development Foundation, introduced the details of the participation in the Chinese exhibition during an interview with ARMENPRESS. He stated that any good, successful product directly or indirectly contributes to increasing interest towards the country. “We have been standing in the pavilion for four days, there was huge human flow, and you start to ask question to yourself whether we [Armenia] are ready to satisfy that demand if it is formed. As of today, no. We have a problem with the volume of wine”, the official said.

“We are just starting to touch the Chinese market, and it is difficult to compare it with other markets with its prospects and volumes. We understood a very important thing that it is impossible to target China as a potential tourism country from our perspective, therefore, we need to work on concrete cities and directions. At the moment we are studying in the Foundation the already existing research on the Chinese market, we also conduct our own research”, Ara Khzmalyan said.

He stated that it’s one thing to enter the Chinese market which also requires some investments. According to him it’s also important to take into account the fact to what extent Armenia is ready to host the Chinese tourism flows. The talk is not only about the language proficiency – tour guides, information materials in Chinese in hotels as most of Chinese people do not speak Russian and English, but also it’s about ensuring accommodation and other infrastructures.

The Armenian Tourism Development Foundation participated in the exhibition in the Chinese city of Qingdao from June 15 to 18 where it presented Armenia’s tourism directions, especially the wine tourism.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan