Armenia to develop business tourism

ArmInfo. Armenia intends to develop business tourism (MICE tourism). To further this goal, a  regional tourism forum was held in Dilijan, with the participation of Deputy Minister of Economy of Armenia Arman Khojoyan.  In his speech, he noted that over the past two decades, tourism has become one of  the key areas of the Armenian economy, stimulating economic growth, creating new jobs and raising the standard of living of in our communities.

Several institutional reforms have been implemented in recent years,  in particular, a new law has been adopted, to improve  the quality of services and protect the rights of tourists. Active  investments are being made in improving the tourism infrastructure to  boost the attractiveness of our country. In addition, efforts are  being made to increase the number of flights to Armenia, which will  not only facilitate the entry of tourists to Armenia, but will also  foster the growth of business tourism and the hosting of  international conferences," the Deputy Minister noted.

During the conference, the head of the USAID regional tourism project  in the South Caucasus Michelle McKenzie, representative of the  Georgian Tourism Association Nino Getsadze, UAE tourism and  hospitality expert Abdulsalam Kayali, as well as hospitality manager  of the Apicius International School of Hospitality Salvatore Procopio  shared their best international practices.  The conference was  co-hosted by the Tourism Committee of the Republic of Armenia and the  Green Rock organization.

According to the Tourism Committee, 1.48 million tourists visited  Armenia in January-August 2024, which is 6.3% lower than the figure  for the previous year.  Traditionally, the lion's share of tourists  who prefer to vacation in Armenia are citizens of the Russian  Federation (43.2%), followed by tourists from Georgia (11.9%), Iran  (7.5%), the USA (2.7%), India (2.1%), France (1.4%), as well as from  Ukraine, China and Germany (1.3% each) and the Philippines (1.1%  each).