Armenia plans to bring tourist industry`s revenues up to $3bln by  2030

ArmInfo. By 2030, Armenia plans to increase the number of international tourist visits annually to 10%. As a result, it is expected to increase revenue to $3 billion annually. This is stated in the Strategic Program for Tourism Development of the Republic of Armenia for 2026-2030 and the action plan to ensure its implementation, published by the Ministry of  Economy on the single portal of legal acts.

As stated in the explanation to the document, the Strategic Plan defines the priorities for the development of the sector, arising from the priorities of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, the vision for the development of the tourism sector and the international commitments undertaken by the Republic of Armenia, effective ways to achieve them, as well as ways to respond to existing challenges. The strategic plan sets out the vision and goals for the development of the tourism sector, on the basis of which an action plan for the latter is developed, describing the expected results of the reforms and their impact on the economy and society.

It is noted that the existence of a strategic plan will allow for the  coordination and resolution of a number of issues that are directly  related to tourists, their experiences and the services provided, but the resolution of such issues does not depend on the state authorized body in the field of tourism. Similar issues include improving roads leading to tourist sites, ensuring cleanliness, creating infrastructure to meet the needs of tourists (including toilets), etc.

It is expected that the adopted amendments and additions will  contribute to the protection of the rights of citizens' consumers,  clarification of requirements for tourism services and entities,  development of tourism in populated areas, balanced territorial  economic development, development of human resources, etc.

Thus, the Strategic Program defines all measures that will lead to state support or other programs over the next 5 years. About 165 million drams were spent on activities implemented within the framework of the state support program in 2022, 1 billion drams in 2023, and 1.5 billion drams in 2024, the budget for 2025 has been reduced to 800 million and, given the increase in the volume of activities planned in the coming years, the amount provided from the state budget will have an increasing nature in the coming years, due to an increase in the volume of marketing activities within the framework of annual programs.

The program activities are mainly related to the implementation of an active marketing policy, diversification of tourism products based on community resources, support for the development of tourism infrastructure and capacities, attraction of investments in the tourism sector, development of international cooperation, improvement of the statistical system, improvement of the quality of services, support for business initiatives in the sector, support for the activities of tourism management organizations (DMOs) and tourism information centers. Much attention will be paid to the implementation of marketing activities to restore the tourist attractiveness of Armenia.

Within the framework of the program, activities will be implemented to support individuals carrying out professional activities in Armenia using the educational base of the best international higher education institutions envisaged in the draft Strategic Program, as a result of which steps will be taken to support the development of human resources, as well as the needs of the private and public  system in the field of tourism.

The implementation of the Tourism Development and Regional  Infrastructure Improvement Program envisaged by the Strategy will begin in 2026, within the framework of which financing in the amount of 5 billion drams is planned (in subsequent years it will be phased, including co-financing from the World Bank).

By 2030, it is planned to increase the number of international  tourist visits to 10% annually by increasing the attractiveness of  Armenia, bringing the number of international visits to about 3  million in 2030, as a result of which it is planned to increase the  annual income to 3 billion US dollars. 

As emphasized by the Ministry of Economy, the forecasts aimed at increasing tourist flows will be realized if the following strategic steps are implemented: improving infrastructure, attracting investments, implementing planned active marketing activities, ensuring the quality of services, developing human resources, intensifying international cooperation, launching flights to new destinations, diversifying the Armenian tourism product.