Friday, September 8 2023 16:17

ArmInfo. The first 3 tourism clusters in Armenia will be created in Areni, Gyumri and  Dilijan. This was stated by the Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan  Kerobyan, speaking at the opening of the World Tourism Investment  Forum, held in Armenia in cooperation with the UNWTO (United Nations  World Tourism Organization).

In general, over the next 10 years, as the minister further noted,  the government plans to create 20 tourism clusters. In this context,  he said that the state allocated 1 billion drams for the development  of the tourism industry this year.

The minister also presented the latest indicators on tourist visits  to Armenia. So, according to Kerobyan, in January-August 2023 the  number of tourists vacationing in Armenia reached 1.59 million, which  is 53% higher than a year ago. For comparison, he noted that in  pre-Covid 2019, 1.6 million tourists were recorded in Armenia.

Within the framework of the forum, Minister Vahan Kerobyan also met  with UNWTO Executive Director Natalia Bayona and Regional Director  for Europe Alessandra Priante.

It should be noted that the forum was held in Yerevan from September  6 to 8 in a closed format with the participation of invited guests.  In total, the number of participants reached 150. In addition,  representatives of 15 embassies accredited in Armenia were invited to  the Forum.

During the forum, participants discussed investment opportunities in  the tourism industry in the world, changes in the field after the  coronavirus pandemic, the impact of which was felt most of all by  tourism; speakers from Europe, the USA, the UAE, etc. gave speeches.  Particular attention was paid to the potential of Armenia in the  field of tourism.

In addition, as previously stated, tours of Yerevan and Armenia were  prepared for forum guests.