Mekhak Apresyan: In the first semester of 2017, growth of tourism in Armenia formed 24.7%

ArmInfo. In the first half of  2017, the growth in tourism in Armenia was 24.7%. This was stated at  the press conference on September 25 by the First Deputy Chairman of  the State Tourism Committee of the Ministry of Economic Development  and Investments of Armenia Mekhak Apresyan.

At the same time, he admitted that there are certain problems in the  sphere of tourism in Armenia, pointing to the unscrupulous work of  taxi drivers. Among the pluses, he pointed to the lack of hotel tax  and the availability of many new direct flights.

As noted by Apresyan, the Armenian government has already concluded a  number of agreements with various countries on creating direct  flights, and is also negotiating the attraction of new airlines to  the country's market. "The rise in ticket prices was due to the  increase in demand towards Armenia and the increase in the number of  tourists wishing to visit our country, but this not only did not  reduce the number of tourists, but on the contrary we have positive  indicators," said Apresyan.

Mekhak Apresyan also spoke about the 22nd meeting of the General  Assembly of the UN World Tourism Organization, which was held from 11  to 16 September in the Chinese city of Chantu. The delegation from  Armenia headed by the Chairman of the State Tourism Committee of the  Ministry of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia Zarmine  Zeituntsyan also participated in the meeting. The issue on the draft  convention on "Tourism ethics" was on the agenda. A special  conference was held to develop the project, in which a delegation  from Armenia participated. "On the proposal of the delegation from  Armenia, the convention included 2 points, under the number 4 and 9.  One of them concerns national minorities, and the other concerns  tourism security," said Apresyan.

According to the official, according to the fourth item on national  minorities, the delegation from Armenia was invited to respect their  culture and give them the opportunity to demonstrate their customs to  tourists.  Turkey voted against this point, but no one supported it.  And according to the 9th point, any country that is currently in an  insecure situation for tourists - war, epidemic, unrest in the  country, must make a statement about its insecurity. The statement  will be compiled by the UN World Tourism Organization in conjunction  with the authorities of the country. "This convention has not yet  entered into force, but appropriate actions are being taken to  implement it," said Apresyan.

In turn, Director of the Tourism Development Fund of Armenia Ara  Khalatyan told about the International tourist exhibition "Rest  2017", in which participated tourism operators, the fund for tourism  development and winemakers from Armenia.

On September 18, a delegation from Armenia conducted a tasting of  wines and national dishes of Armenia.  "Various kinds of tourism were  presented at the exhibition: extreme tourism, attractions,  interesting places, churches, national cuisine, hotels and everything  that could attract tourists," Khalatyan said.