ArmInfo.Armenia's hospitality and tourism industry needs investments and communication, Hrant Badasyan, Hrant Badasyan, President of the National Union of the Hospitality Industry (OSIG) and co-founder of Impulse Management Company, stated at a business lunch with the Armenian and Russian ministers of economy.
"The tourism sector of Armenia and Russia is developing at a high pace, which opens up many opportunities for investment," he said.
In this regard, the head of the Union proposed to the heads of the economic departments of the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation, within the framework of the development of Russian-Armenian relations, to hold an annual forum in the field of the hospitality industry, where they could show existing projects, discuss investment opportunities and create a platform for dialogue and exchange of views for the state, businesses and manufacturers.
According to the RA Statistical Committee, in January-July 2023, 1 million 026 thousand tourists visited Armenia, which is 29% more than a year ago. Traditionally, the lion's share of tourists (51% or 646 thousand) falls on citizens of the Russian Federation, followed by tourists from Georgia - 138 thousand (11%), Iran - 77 thousand (6%), USA - 27.6 thousand. (2%). During the reporting period, tourists from Ukraine, India, Germany, France, Belarus, China, etc. also visited Armenia. For the whole of 2022, 1.67 million tourists visited Armenia, which is 2 times higher than the figure of 870 thousand people a year ago. In the covid and war years of 2020, only 375 thousand people visited Armenia, in 2019 - 1.89 million, and in 2018 - 1.65 million. As Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently stated, the RA plans to increase the annual number of tourists visiting Armenia to 15 million people.
The National Union of the Hospitality Industry (OSIG) is a non-profit organization created in the summer of 2019 with the aim of consolidating tourist business organizations to protect their professional interests, solve systemic problems in the field of tourism through the introduction of an integrated approach to the development of territories with tourism potential. Impulse management company is a holding company for asset and investment management in the areas of development and territory development. Since 2021, the company has been developing and implementing strategies for investing in development projects, managing commercial programs in the hospitality industry, developing a full cycle of residential and commercial real estate, urban and public spaces, developing territory branding, and unlocking the potential of regions through the development of tourism products.
