Monday, 1 February 2010
“National Geographic Traveler” magazine
Armenia has always been famous for its unique historical heritage, geographical diversity, the people’s hospitality and warm attitude towards the guests. Tourism is known as one of the main directions of the development of Armenia’s economy nowadays. Despite the dense work schedule, the prime minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan kindly presented his views on the main directions of this sphere’s development and modern peculiarities to “National Geographic Traveler”.
- Mr. Prime-Minister, what do you think could be the brand of Armenia?
- The issue of the country’s brand is a subject of a special study, since Armenia is a newly independent state. Armenia is perceived differently in the world.
Our first unique characteristic is that we are one of the world’s oldest nations with rich history and heritage which doesn’t cover only the territory of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh but also the entire area of “Mets Hayk”. We have rich historical-cultural values, which are great attraction for the tourists and that’s the number one precondition of the development of Armenia’s tourism.
The second peculiarity is that due to the Armenian Genocide of 1915 carried out by the Ottoman Empire, thousands of Armenians were spread all over the world and developed their civilization everywhere. In fact, we have tourism agents who preach the Armenian culture, the republic of Armenia and create favorable conditions for the development of tourism. The Armenian people cherish their spiritual and cultural values, spreading their culture and architecture from Australia to Latin America, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavian countries, building churches. The foreigners show great interest towards Armenia, impressed by that.
The third one is the modern Armenia with its rich pre-Christian, Christian historical-cultural heritage and modern values, in which the foreign tourist is interested.
Our goal is to present Armenia to the world on the proper way.
- In your opinion, what are the ways of development of tourism in Armenia?
-In the past tourism developed in Armenia according to the Soviet Union’s manners: basically, we accepted many guests from the soviet countries. That’s why there were some Armenian well-known tourism brands in USSR, such as Jermuk, Dilijan and Arzni, which corresponded to the high demands of the Union. They were famous only in the Soviet Union, and the foreign tourism was limited. Thus, Armenia was not famous all over the world as a tourist attraction country. In the recent years we started to work on projects that would be directed to the development of the tourism worldwide.
It is natural that after the collapse of USSR the attractiveness significantly reduced. Additionally, the earthquake and the Karabagh conflict left their negative impact on the process. However, in the last decade the amount of the tourists is significantly increasing.
Naturally, due to the first characteristic, the active flow of the tourists began from the countries with Armenian communities. It appeared that the 95% of our compatriots of Diaspora have never been to Armenia. Take into account the fact that their number is twice as much as the number of the locals. There is a big potential for the development of tourism in Armenia. And the last ten years’ experience has shown that we are having 20-30% growth of visits every year, which became the first engine of tourism development. After that, our task was to activate the second feature in order to have more foreign tourists in Armenia. This means that we should have been able to raise the level of infrastructures and bring them to highest standards, and also make investments in the hotel constructions sphere. However, the second feature enabled the elite, expensive tourism. That’s why the number of the tourists was limited. Today our goal is to increase that number, for which we should have tour packages for the middle class, tour-agencies, which will be able to establish relations with the foreign operators. The other direction of tourism is generally the South Caucasus. For its development we plan joint tours with Georgia.
-Mr. Prime-Minister, which are the primary problems of this sphere?
-Some ideas are under preparation today. The National Competitiveness Council is operating actively, one of the main destinations of which is the tourism. The restoration of Tatev monastery complex, the tourist complex and the construction of the world’s longest ropeway will be a great impulse. It will pass over a wonderful gorge, which will open incredibly beautiful scenes before the tourists. We will provide funds to develop infrastructure in that sector, to bring roads into order, to construct hotels and also to establish a helicopter communication between Yerevan and Tatev. All this will significantly increase the tourism attraction in South Armenia. We have an idea to make Yerevan the center of humor and laughter, as Odessa was for the Soviet Union. There is an “Armenian Radio” brand, which will contribute to organizing international humor festivals in Armenia. Especially, Armenians have their proper role and place in this sphere nowadays. We are determined to support such festivals. There are also other tourism sectors, where we have a very significant potential, particularly in hunting. Several bases of the best standards have already been created. The area of the republic of Armenia is small, but its geography is very diverse. All the geographical areas can be found in Armenia. Within 15-20 minutes you from cold mountains you can appear under the scorching sun of the Ararat valley, and then, after half an hour, you’ll be swimming in the cool waters of Lake Sevan. The problem is how to turn all this into a tour-package and provide the world with it.
-And what is the role of the small and medium businesses in this project?
-The development system of the small and medium businesses is directly related to tourism. A network as already been created, in which are involved families that will host tourists for 5000 drams daily. This is unique opportunity for the development of the small business and it creates a cheap tourism attraction. By the way, one of the ideas is to build a little tourist village on the way to Garni-Geghard. For that reason the state has announced a contest for making a small village, where the small and medium businesses can participate. If this experience is successfully implemented, we will carry out the same project in Syunik. This concept also includes the construction “Vardapetats” city in Spitak. Within the framework of the National Competitiveness Council, a business plan, supported by McKinsey & Company, is being developed, which will serve the sport and eco-tourism lovers. Our partners from McKinsey & Company developed programs for the organization of bicycle tourism in Sevan.
-It’s no secret that your work at the prime-minister’s post implies great employment. However, do you manage to rest? If so, what preferences do you have?
-The rest for the prime-minister is nothing but an intense and productive work nowadays. That is, when you feel that your work is fruitful, it is already a rest for the prime-minister, because you get the feeling of satisfaction. I don’t think that the prime-minister can leave the work and take a rest considering the current condition of Armenia. That’s why I think that the person who is at the prime-minister’s post for the next five years should take a rest only at his office. Let’s hope that in the future, when are able to solve all the problems, the prime-minister will be able to enjoy his holiday. As for my holiday preferences: I must say that if I had time I would isolate myself in a picturesque place in Armenia, would take my favorite books and would also take a full sleep.
-What expectations do you have about the development of tourism?
-I think that within the next 10 years great investments will be made in the development of tourism, because we have to increase the numbers of the tourists from 600 thousand to 3 million. It means that we need serious investments. The projects formed by the National Competitiveness Council are aimed at solving this problem.
I wish that by the initiative of National geographic Traveler the readers rediscover Armenia newly for themselves, especially its tourism attraction. I’m sure that you’ll manage to do that.
-Thank you very much for the interview and wishes, Mr. Prime-Minister.
Razmik Chragyan
