GIZ representatives discuss a five-year tourism development strategy in Armenia

ArmInfo. Representatives from the Armenian office of the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) participated in a meeting to discuss the draft of the five-year Strategic Program for Tourism Development in Armenia.

As reported by the press service of the Tourism Committee of Armenia, international and local experts were also in attendance. The participants shared their proposals on the draft program, highlighting current challenges and the steps to address them. Throughout the discussion, the significance of establishing precise and targeted measures for sustainable tourism development was emphasized.

It should be noted that the draft strategy for the upcoming years aims to enhance the efficiency of state policy in this area and engage stakeholders.The strategy involves the adoption of approximately30 regulations, some of which pertain to the certification of guides. The level of digitalization in the tourism sector is currently very low. It is not clear who is arriving in the country and for what purpose. Therefore, there are plans to create an electronic database - an electronic journal, that will include all hotels, guest houses, requiring them to register all tourists.

Armenia, in partnership with the World Bank,  is implementing the TRIP program, which includes the establishment of tourism clusters in seven communities of Armenia: Gyumri, Goris, Dilijan, Eghenis, Jermuk, Areni, Dvin. Within this project, a roadmap is being developed for each cluster to enhance its attractiveness while considering the unique characteristics of each community.  The main areas of tourism will be: cultural and historical tourism, gastro- and ethnotourism, rural and adventure tourism and medical tourism.

According to the Tourism Committee, 2.2 million tourists visited Armenia in 2024, which is 4.6% less than in 2023. The number of tourists from Russia decreased by 17.5%  to a total of 937,823 tourists.