Armenian tourism: problems and prospects

The development of tourism in Armenia currently faces several problems. Most significant is the lack of trained personnel and no established touristic brand in the country. There is also a shortage of high-quality restaurants and hotels available for middle income tourists. All these and other issues were discussed by rector of the Tourism Institute of Armenia, Robert Minasyan. According to him the most important challenge is the issue of preparing and training Armenia's service personnel. As a brand for the country he suggested using the Bible Mountains of Ararat. He also emphasized the quality of service in Armenia's restaurants and hotels, stressing the fact that there are not enough of these in the country and there is a poor knowledge of the English language in many of them. According to the Ministry of Economy of Armenia, in 2010 Armenia was visited by 680,000 tourists, in 2011 the number rose to 758, 000. According to this year's estimates, the number of tourists will reach 800,000. However, many tourists coming to Armenia are representatives of the Armenian Diaspora from around the world. Minasyan encourages the nearly 6 million Armenians scattered around the world to come to their native homeland at least once a year.