Sevan Monastery, Gegharkunik Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2001

After the New York Times recently highlighted an increase in tourism in the neighbouring Republic of Georgia, Eurasianet reports on the same trends in Armenia. Both are now set to advertise their countries on CNN. As usual, the article comes from RFE/RL’s Emil Danielyan.

Officials in Yerevan say Armenia will welcome a record-high number of travelers to the small South Caucasus nation this year, with ethnic Armenians from Europe and the United States accounting for the majority of visitors.

The sector, increasingly important for the Armenian economy, expanded considerably in recent years after being declared a top economic priority by the Armenian government. Officials estimate that it now generates about 7 percent of Gross Domestic Product.

According to Mekhak Apresian, head of the tourism department at the Armenian Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, the number of tourists is on course to reach more than 350,000 in 2006, or nearly twice the figure reported in 2003. “I think we will approach the 400,000 mark this year,” Apresian told EurasiaNet. The authorities’ target of attracting half a million visitors in 2010, set by President Robert Kocharian in July, is therefore “realistic,” he said.

[…]

Armenian officials will soon launch an advertising campaign on the US-based cable news outlet, CNN International, to promote Armenia as a travel destination. Apresian, the tourism department chief, insisted that the undisclosed lump sum paid to CNN for the four-month deal will be worth it. “The idea is to present Armenia as a peaceful and secure country which has a rich heritage and is home to hospitable people,” he said. “Armenia’s [post-Soviet] image abroad has been one of a hot spot, a conflict zone. We have to change it.”

But industry executives say promotional campaigns like this will not have desired effects unless the government does more do address weaknesses hampering the sector’s development. One of them is a continuing lack of inexpensive lodging, which allows the existing hotels to set prices that are widely seen as disproportionately high for a country like Armenia. Air travel to Armenia is similarly pricey, despite more frequent flight services between Yerevan and major European capitals. The high costs of visiting are hardly an enticement for budget travelers, and luring them in large numbers, analysts say, is vital for the long-term development of the Armenian tourism industry.

Incidently, according to a World Bank document on Community-Based Trans-Caucasus Tourism Iniatives, 700-800 thousand tourists visited Armenia each year during the last years of the former Soviet Union. Figures for Georgia stood at approximately 4 million per annum while no statistics appear to exist for Azerbaijan during the same period.