ArmInfo. As part of the Silk Road Initiative, Armenia intends to position itself as the country that is the birthplace of wine. The chairman of the State Tourism Committee Zarmine Zeituntsyan stated this during a press conference on March 17.
She explained that after the declared desire of Armenia at the meeting of the UN World Trade Organization to lead the working group on the implementation of the Wine Route initiative in the framework of the Silk Road in October 2017, with the assistance of the Smithsonian University, a concept for the development of ecotourism (wine tourism) was developed. The head of the State Committee informed that the concept will be sent to the tourist agencies of the countries participating in the Silk Road for acquaintance. When the list of countries that approved their decision to join this initiative is received, according to Zeytuntsyan, the working group will start implementing the strategy of the "Wine Route" and the creation of a corresponding fund.
"In fact, this is a great incentive primarily for the development of tourism in Armenia, because as of today we attach special importance to the promotion of inter-regional tourism. In the domestic market, we have already begun to work on the development of wine routes, and today we are given the opportunity to expand the borders within the Silk Road and enter the interregional space," she said.
It is noteworthy that the wine route, according to Zeytuntsyan, is not limited to visits from one winery to another, but represents the full integration of the communities. "We want to provoke a wide interest of the tourist to our country through wine, in particular, its culture, history, community development. And we will offer such a development strategy to those countries that will also become members of the wine route, she concluded.
In particular, Zeytuntsyan noted that according to the results of 2017, among countries-participants of the Silk Road according to the version of the TripAdvisor website, Armenia took the 2nd position, and in terms of gastronomic tourism it was the first.