ArmInfo. The current revenue of Armenian tour operators over the past month is close to zero, both for inbound and outbound tourism. An expert on tourism of the Slice Tours company told ArmInfo correspondent about this.
According to the expert, inbound tourism in Armenia has just begun to gain momentum after the off-season lull. The first reservations made in January-February of this year were canceled at the beginning of March. Real and potential income equaled to zero, and current expenses and investments have not yet justified themselves in this direction.
As Nane Matevosyan said, the company coordinated by her recently entered the inbound tourism market, invested funds for brand promotion abroad for about a year - promoting the company on online platforms, developing and testing appropriate tour packages, creating advertising materials based on them and participating in expensive international expo. "We have not yet managed to reap the benefits of our investments, and in today's situation of complete uncertainty, we don't know when we will be able to do this," she emphasized.
At the same time, speaking about the situation in terms of outbound tourism, the specialist emphasized that March is the first month when travel agencies cease to bear losses and at least ensure "zero".
According to the expert, the entire tourism business in Armenia carries serious losses. All current reservations are simply canceled, many of them are canceled with fines. Airlines make cancellations at its discretion. For example, the Polish LOT cancels departures and does not return money, but leaves the tour agencies on the account at the expense of future departures, and the low-budget WIZZAIR did not even bother to announce the cancellation of departures to Austria, although Austria closed the borders for foreign citizens.
Speaking about the marginality of the tourist industry, the specialist noted that the market has fallen so much that there is no sense to speak about it. , - said Matevosyan.
According to very cautious forecasts, the industry will begin to emerge from the deepest crisis, at best, by the month of June. , she said.
Speaking about possible state assistance to tourism industry operators, Matevosyan emphasized that the largest expense item for companies is rent and salaries: .
Speaking about the possible losses for the country's economy from the collapse of the tourism industry and related business segments, Matevosyan emphasized that any business based on tourism can only survive with possible alternative incomes, subsidies or, if again lucky, an abnormal growth in income in the summer. And then the abnormal growth will still need to be served by current resources.
Answering the question whether the zeroing of the tourism industry, when the crisis with coronavirus settles, can affect the high dynamics of growth of indicators in connection with a partial loss of the industry's internal potential, the specialist emphasized that she looks at it with cautious optimism.
