YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The number of tourists who visited Armenia in the first half of 2019 grew nearly 12,3%, Minister of Economy Tigran Khachatryan told a news conference.

He said that they’ve initiated marketing campaigns for the country’s promotion and as a result a number of foreign journalists and bloggers arrived to Armenia.

“The number of tourists who visited Armenia is recapped only for the semester yet. It amounted 770,000 people, which is 12,3% more compared to last year,” the minister said.

He said that 17 reporters from the Association of Journalists of Switzerland arrived to Armenia on introductory visits, and as a result more than 30 articles about Armenia were published.

Khachatryan also mentioned the Armenian-Chinese joint conference on commercial-economic matters. He pointed out an important circumstance. “That’s the creation of sufficient conditions for the use of the UnionPay payment system in Armenia. When we do this we will significantly increase Chinese tourists’ convenience on being in Armenia. It is the most popular one in China, and practically the only one which Chinese tourists can use while being abroad,” he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan