Zeytuntsyan: We will need less effort to develop a tour package for a European, rather than for a Georgian

ArmInfo. We will need more  efforts to develop a tour package for a Georgian tourist, rather than  for a European tourist. The head of the State Committee for Tourism  of the Armenian Ministry of Economic Development and Investments  Zarmine Zeituntsyan at a press conference expressed this opinion on  April 18.

In her opinion, to attract tourists from neighboring Georgia, it is  necessary to develop the direction of cultural tourism: holding  interesting events, concerts. As an example, Zeytuntsyan recalled the  concert of the world-famous American rock band System Of A Down,  whose members are of Armenian origin, which played a significant role  in reviving the dynamics of visits of Georgian tourists to Armenia.  "It is not that we have nothing to offer Georgian tourists, but to  develop an interesting tourist product for them," she said.

In particular, the head of the State Committee noted that to solve  this issue it is necessary to create a working group that will study  the market of Georgia and the needs of citizens. At the same time,  Zeytuntsyan noted that on average about 1 million Armenian citizens  visit Georgia every year, who leave there mainly to rest on the Black  Sea coast. "At first, it may seem easier to attract tourists from  neighboring countries, but this is far from the case, in spite of the  similarity of the two countries, therefore, we need to conduct a  competent marketing policy in this issue," she summarized.

According to the National Tourism Administration of Georgia, 1.5  million Armenian citizens visited Georgia in 2016, which exceeded the  indicator of 5 years ago by more than 2 times, and in comparison with  2006 the growth was more than 8 times. According to the source, last  year Armenia ranked second (with a share of 23.6%) among the  countries whose citizens made visits to Georgia. Azerbaijan -more  than 1.5 million citizens, the third - Turkey - 1.2 million and the  fourth -Russia - 1.3 million tourists.