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The number of Armenia’s inbound tourists has surpassed 2 million for the firm time. The country welcomed 2 million 50 thousand tourists in January-October 2023 against 1.7 million tourists in the same period of 2022.

President of the Armenian Tourism Federation Mekhak Apresyan tells Panorama.am given that one tourist spends an average of $1,000 per visit, Armenia's inbound tourism revenues in January-October amounted to around $2 billion.

"Of course, this is unofficial data," he said.

In response to Panorama's request to provide data on Armenia’s tourism revenues for the first ten months of 2022 and 2023, the Tourism Committee says it will be available only in January, after the data is summarized.

"Nevertheless, the fact is that about $2 billion in revenues have been generated. Considering all this, we are asking the government to allocate at least 1% of the inbound tourism revenues to the tourism reforms program in 2024. The program is about marketing activities, tourism bottom line, diversification, human resources development activities, infrastructure development and others. In fact, it is extremely important for both the public and private sectors to be involved in the development of this program," Apresyan noted.

He highlighted that due to the coronavirus pandemic and the 44-day war in 2020, Armenia experienced setbacks to its tourism industry, However, the sector is gradually reviving. Moreover, 2 million tourists have arrived in Armenia for the first time.

"Last year about 1.6 million tourists visited Armenia, and now, when the year has not yet ended, we already have such a flow of tourists. It is noteworthy that this figure is also higher than in 2019 when the inbound tourists numbered 1,894,000," Apresyan added.

Russia continues to be the leader in the number of tourists coming to Armenia, followed by Georgia and Iran.

According to Mekhak Apresyan, the number of tourists wishing to spend the New Year holidays in Armenia increased over the past 10 years.