Wednesday, February 26 2020 17:01

ArmInfo. Armenia plans to receive up to 7 million tourists annually by 2030. Such a statement was made on February 26 by Susanna Safaryan, Chairperson of the State  Committee for Tourism of the RA Ministry of Economy.

In this regard, she emphasized that in order to achieve the target  indicator, the Tourism Committee has developed a tourism development  strategy, which is currently under consideration by the RA  government.  "We have a document that outlines our vision and all  plans for 10 years," Safaryan added. Moreover, after conducting a  detailed analysis, as the head of the Committee noted, legislative  gaps were identified to regulate and stimulate the domestic tourism  industry. In view of this, the Tourism Committee initiated the  development of the RA Law on Tourism, which is currently at the final  stage.

"Over the course of 10 years, we will have to be ready to receive up  to 7 million tourists and provide the necessary conditions for their  stay in Armenia in terms of the quality of travel services, the  proper state of infrastructures and tourist facilities, and the  readiness of airports," Safaryan said. She stressed that until 2030  it is necessary to have an additional 50 hotel complexes in order to  be fully responsive to the increasing tourist flow. Summing up the  results of the previous year, Safaryan recalled that the total number  of visits to Armenia increased by 14.9% year on year, amounting to  4.3 million people, of which 1.9 million were tourists. At the same  time, she noted that over the year the number of tourists to Armenia  increased on average by 15%, while in 2018 the growth of tourist  flows to Armenia amounted to 10.5%.  The TOP-5 traditionally included  tourists from Russia (855.6 thousand people), Georgia (344.6  thousand), Iran (160.7 thousand), the United States (63.2 thousand).  At the same time, Kazakhstan (39.8 thousand) has superseded Germany  (39.6 thousand) which was one of the five leading countries with the  highest number of tourists who prefer Armenia. 

With regard to European countries, the head of the Committee drew  attention to the fact that according to the results of 2019, the  number of tourists from Germany and France increased by 40% and 20%,  respectively.

"We managed to achieve a similar growth bar thanks to various  marketing campaigns and cooperation with the public sector and  international organizations," she said.  In this regard, the head of  the Committee noted that due to the launch in 2020 of 12 new European  destinations by 2 low-cost airlines (Ryanair and Wizzair), which  recently entered the Armenian market, an increase in tourist visits  to Armenia from a number of European countries is expected. 

To recall, according to the information of the British Internet  publication Independent, with reference to the January publication of  the UN Tourism World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) study, Armenia is  among the twenty fastest growing tourist destinations in the world.  Armenia takes the 12th place in the ranking with tourism growth of  14.4% in 2019.  According to the study, Turkey and Azerbaijan are in  the 13th and 17th places in the list, respectively, with tourism  growing by 14% and 11.4%. And Iran is ahead of Armenia, taking third  place with an increase of 27.9%. Myanmar (Burma) ranks first in terms  of tourism growth - 40.2%, and Puerto Rico in second place - 31.2%.  TOP-5 also included Uzbekistan (27.3%) and Montenegro (21.4%),  followed by Egypt, Vietnam, the Philippines, Maldives and the  Bahamas. Kazakhstan closes the twenty with a 10% increase in tourism  in 2019.  The study notes that international tourist flows around the  world reached 1.5 billion people in 2019, which is 4% more than in  2018. France remains the most visited country with more than 90  million tourists.