The RA Statistical Committee conducts tourism statistics according to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) methodology and defines an international tourist as anyone who travels for rest, medical treatment, visiting relatives, business, religious or other purposes for not less than 24 hours and not more than 1 consecutive year. Thus, in 2020, according to the data of the Statistical Committee published on February 5 (before the pandemic), the number of tourists arriving in Armenia increased by about 1 million 300 thousand in the ten years between 2009 and 2019[1]. According to the data of the Ministry of the Economy, among the tourists arriving in Armenia, about 31 percent are Diaspora Armenians, 69 percent are foreigners[2]. Almost half of the tourists in Armenia are attracted by cultural tourism, 19 percent come to see the nature of Armenia, and 16 percent come for entertainment. Business, adventure and resort tourism are preferred by 13 percent of the total, and 3 percent come to Armenia for long-term tourism[3].
The country development plan for 2021-2025 envisions a number of activities to encourage and support tourism development, and among them, the organization of more gastro and other types of cultural festivals and cultural events to attract more tourists. Also, it is supposed that the state strategy on preservation of historical, cultural, and both tangible and intangible heritage would contribute to increasing tourist flows to Armenia. Creative industries are tightly associated with tourism, as tourists are the main consumers of the production of those industries. Therefore, the state or community funded cultural events or festivals pay special attention to involving representatives of these industries in the projects. In some places, markets of creative arts and souvenir production are persistently organized near the historical and religious monuments under the patronage of local authorities or local cultural/development organizations (e.g. the arts and crafts market in the village Gosh near the Goshavank monastery).
[1] mineconomy.am/media/9557/TourismStrategy_2020-2030.pdf
[2] mineconomy.am/media/9557/TourismStrategy_2020-2030.pdf
[3] /ibid./
Comments are closed.