Near East could be among priority markets for Armenia under tourism strategy - minister 

ArmInfo. Within the framework of the new tourism strategy, the Middle East will become one of the priority markets for Armenia. This was announced to journalists by Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan during a briefing, explaining the government's decision to launch a visa-free regime for  citizens of Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to enter Armenia, as well as residents of friendly countries, including the UAE and Qatar.

He explained that in this case, we are talking about financially  secure tourists with a high standard of living.  In this regard, the  minister called on the tourism business of Armenia, including  representatives of industries related to tourism, to be ready to  accept such a level and number of tourists.

According to the RA Statistical Committee, in 2024, Armenia was visited by 937,823 tourists from Russia, which is 17.5% lower than the same period last year, 43,672 tourists from India (24.8% increase over the year), 2,235 tourists from Oman (76.8% increase over the year), 600 tourists from Saudi Arabia (70% decrease over the year), 153 from Bahrain (7.8% decrease over the year), 297 tourists from Qatar (30.3% increase over the year), 7,539 from the UAE (2.5% decrease over the year).