ArmInfo. Tourists from the Russian Federation show a growing interest in the countries of the former USSR, Maya Lomidze, CEO of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, said at a press conference in Moscow on September 23, PolitNavigator reports.
"Judging by the sales of tour operators, we see that the number of tourists visiting Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia is growing. Belarus is in the lead though the dynamics is negative as compared with the previous year due to the high prices," Lomidze said, noting that in the post-Soviet space it is the Transcaucasia that demonstrates the most balanced price/quality ratio. She thinks that the increased demand will result in growth of passenger operations and in reduction of prices. "The outlook is favorable: the positive dynamics will be maintained unless air tickets seriously rise in price," Lomidze said.
Earlier Head of the Tourism Department of the Armenian Economy Ministry Mekhak Apresyan said that international tourism in Armenia will grow 5% at year-end 2016. He noted that in Q1 2016 international tourism in the country grew by 8.6% in Q1 2016. "The positive trend of inflow of tourists will be mainly determined by diversification of tourism and is a result of the ministry's work conducted within the recent several years", he said.
According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, in 2015 as many as 1,256,572 travelers arrived in Armenia (in Jan-Dec 2015 - 1,192,120 travelers, with a 3.2% year-over-year decline), In Q4 2015, as many as 1,310,164 people left Armenia for tourism purposes (in Jan-Dec 2015 - 1,187,369 people, with a 1.3% y- o-y decline). In Q1 2016, a total of 1,252,506 tourists (8.6% y-o-y growth) visited Armenia, while 1,227,499 people left the republic for tourism purposes (with a 5.9% y-o-y growth).
