ArmInfo. Armenian Government will stimulate the development of tourism with creating tourism development Fund, this suggestion was adopted during the session of Cabinet of Ministers of Armenia on June 29.
According to Tigran Khachatryan, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia, this necessity is due to the fact that the Board of Trustees of the Development Fund of Armenia (FRA) decided to refuse from the tourism development component. It is expected that the newly established Fund, as the Deputy Minister stressed, will ensure the implementation of more effective marketing policy in the sphere of tourism.
Thus, Khachatryan explained, two authorized bodies will function in the tourism sphere: the State Committee for Tourism, which will develop tourism policy, and the activities to ensure the developed policy will be implemented by the Tourism Development Fund. "This format of work will allow to be more flexible in attracting the necessary financial resources," said the representative of Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.
At the same time, the creation of the Fund will not require additional expenditures for the budget, since AMD 30 million envisaged for the FRA will simply be redirected to the newly established Fund.
2016, the tourism sector of Armenia closed with 5.7% growth. The State Committee for Tourism of the Ministry of Economic Development and Armenian investments, formed in October 2016, by 2020 intends to double the influx of foreign tourists to Armenia. At the end of previous year, 2.867 million foreign citizens came to the republic, of which 1.259 million were for tourism purposes.