YEREVAN, MARCH 19, ARMENPRESS. 14 Armenian companies presented Armenia’s tourism attractiveness at the ITB Berlin international tourism fair. Among the presented offers, there were also a number of packages with Georgia.

Preliminary agreements were reached with numerous representatives of the tourism business, politicians, businessmen and international bloggers who were introduced on the Armenian tourism opportunities, the country’s rich cultural heritage. The guests also had a chance to taste Armenian national dishes, wine and brandy at the Armenian pavilion.

Within the framework of the exhibition Armenia participated in ITB Speed Networking and Blogger Speed Dating at B2B format.

Alik Sargsyan – Marketing Coordinator at the Armenian Tourism Development Foundation (ATDF) talked about the topic in an interview to ARMENPRESS.

“The ITB Berlin international tourism fair is the largest in the world in terms of the number of participants. Every year nearly 190 countries and hundreds of tour companies are participating in the exhibition to present their best resorts and tour packages. The main goal of this is to present the tourism directions and capacities of different countries for tourism and business trips. It’s already several years Armenia is taking part in the exhibition. The Foundation is organizing its participation for already the second year. This year Armenia was presented with an unprecedented pavilion which included 3D pictures. It created great interest among the visitors, as well as was under the spotlight of international media. Nearly 14 Armenian tour companies were participating in the exhibition this year in a single pavilion. They have introduced Armenia’s tourism attractions, a number of packages relating to the opportunities of the field, including Armenia-Georgia joint tourism programs”, Alik Sargsyan said.

The Armenian companies introduced opportunities in extreme tourism, wine tourism, ecotourism and etc. Sargsyan said awareness-raising on Armenia and the contracts signed by the tour companies are the outcome of the exhibition, but at the moment these cannot be predicted. At the same time, he noted that they had constant meetings and preliminary agreements on the sidelines of the exhibition. “On March 7 the tour companies represented in the Armenian pavilion had a chance to participate in the ITB Speed Networking event at B2B format. Within the frames of this event the companies had a brief meeting with the specialists of the field with an expectation to cooperate in the future. This is a very effective tool for finding a partner”, he said.

The ATDF participated in the Blogger Speed Dating event as an organizer, which involved bloggers from different states. The bloggers, who were interested in Armenia, have been registered in advance and requested a meeting. Alik Sargsyan said they have exchanged contacts with the international bloggers. He stated that taking into account the number of their followers in social networks, they will contact the bloggers after analysis, and if possible, will invite the bloggers to Armenia aimed at raising awareness on the country.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan