The Tourism Committee of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia summed up the work and achievements carried out in 2022 and presented the work and programs planned for 2023.

During the event, a presentation of the new website Armenia.travel was also held, which will provide complete and interesting information about the tourism sector of Armenia.

According to Armenpress, the head of the Tourism Committee Sisian Poghosyan noted that the website was created with the financial support of the European Union and the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany within the framework of the EU program for business “Development of innovative tourism and technologies for Armenia”, implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). He emphasized that 1 million 540 thousand tourists arrived in Armenia this year.

"After the coronavirus, the number of visits to Armenia is recovering. We hope that we will end the year with 1 million 600-700 thousand visits and approach the figures of 2018. Most of all, 47% of tourists came to Armenia from Russia. Followed by people from Georgia, Iran, USA, Germany," Poghosyan said. He recalled that they already have a new brand - "Armenia as a hidden path", which they represent at all events and international EXPOs.

In addition, a number of activities were carried out together with the World Bank and will continue to be implemented next year.

Poghosyan assured that they have done a very large amount of work to be able to correctly represent the Republic of Armenia (in 4 areas: nature, adventure culture, kitchen and wine) on the international market. This year they also made study visits, visiting Armenia from the USA, Georgia, Dubai, Belarus and Germany. In addition, many articles were published about Armenia.

As for plans for next year, Poghosyan noted that they plan to introduce their new website, which is only in English, in Russian, French and German. At the same time, they are working with airlines to be able to advertise Armenia.

The number of tourists who came to Armenia for the Junior Eurovision 2022, which took place in December, is also small, but the final data, according to Poghosyan, will be received in January.

RA Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan emphasized that during this year, as a result of the work carried out by the team of the Committee of Tourism, significant results were achieved.

“Of these achievements, I would like to note the creation of a new tourism brand of Armenia and its presentation on international platforms. Armenia really has a great tourism potential, its unique historical and cultural heritage, undiscovered interesting places, unique cuisine and other tourist destinations, which will become even more visible and representative thanks to the launch of the new website,” Kerobyan said.

First Deputy Chairman of the Tourism Committee Susanna Hakobyan noted that at the moment they have a new draft law, which was created jointly with the relevant departments and has already been submitted to the Prime Minister's Office.

"The main changes in the law are the field of regulation, the relevant business entities are brought into the field of regulation by the notification law. According to the law, we will also introduce qualification processes. There will be mandatory qualification for tour guides and escorts, as well as voluntary qualification for hotel facilities and tourist buses. These are the main changes that are included in our current draft law, which will be put into process within the next year,” said Susanna Hakobyan.

The Tourism Committee also presented certificates of appreciation to a number of partners who provided significant support to the committee during 2022.