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After the coronavirus and the war situation, tourism turns out to be one of the most heavily affected sectors of the economy. This sector, in particular, incurred to the highest extent the consequences of the pandemic, writes Artur Harutyunyan, the founder of Paris Hotel LLC.

"An estimated 2 million tourists visited Armenia in 2019. As of the first quarter of 2021, Armenia hosted 86,524 tourists against the 307,590 in the same period of last year. Inbound tourism increased over the past years due to different factors, particularly, in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The figures speak for themselves: in the first five months of 2023, Armenia attracted as many as 806, 004 tourists, the record being even much higher compared to 2021. Several months back, the Minister of Economy said the flow of tourists surpassed 30% the pre-pandemic records in April 2023. The records are, of course, encouraging; yet there are factors that have to be taken into consideration. First, the flow of tourists, especially from Russia, is bound to decline gradually - again due to a number of circumstances (though such a decline may be observed from now on) . Among them, resettlers account for a large percentage. By and large, there is a vast difference between a tourist and a resettler when it comes to the amount of money spent. Tourists, who come with a scheduled program, spend the money on tours, meals in restaurants, i.e. - their expenditures are twice as higher. Whereas a resettler is someone who seeks residence for a certain period of time, and hence, their expenditures are totally different. Therefore, it is important to take a realistic outlook on those records and the available economic outcomes," Harutyunyan says.

He emphasizes the importance of increasing Armenia's recognition to make it a more attractive country for tourists (notwithstanding the increasing or decreasing statistics).

"What could be of interest to a tourist who is on his first visit to Armenia? First, it is the sights and historical monuments. Yet, they alone are not enough to impress a modern-day tourist. People's interests change globally. It is necessary to think of new interests and attractive [tour] packages. Tourists visiting Armenia, for instance, are very much interested in the Armenian cuisine and urban life. From this perspective, developing corporate tourism, launching more special offers and conducting more events are important.

"Armenia's tourism attraction today covers all the seven forms of the global tourism markets, i.e. - cultural, landscape, leisure, business, medical-healthcare, long-term [programs]. Armenia has a potential in all these areas. What matters is to ensure a proportional development in the sector. We need a vision to understand what trend the Armenian tourism pursues and whether or not we have a target group".

Artur Harutyunyan also highlights the importance of cooperation between the state and the private sector.

"There is a real opportunity to make tourism the 'bread basket' of the country's economy. That's the trend observed globally, which is to say we have the best international practice to benefit from. Tourism today is the second fastest developing sector internationally, securing a 4% growth. With such paces of development, there are forecasts for creating 100 million extra jobs on the global level in the 10 years to come. That is to say, one in four jobs will pertain to this particular area. It is attractive also to investors, especially in terms of foreign investments that may secure profit for both the state and the private budget. I think in case of a reasonable strategy, we can upgrade this sector to promote our country's economic development," the founder of Paris Hotel writes.