Adibekyan: Armenia is not attractive for young tourists
Tourism may become an industrial sector, but serious state projects must be carried out for it. Sociologist Aharon Adibekyan has come to such a conclusion after different studies and polls. He thinks that Armenia must make more attractive suggestions to its tourists, “During the polls we encountered with such a case: a granny together with her grandchild came to see Armenia. After several days the grandchild asked the granny whether there is something else in Armenia besides monasteries and churches. It means we must become attractive also for the young.” Aharon Adibekyan thinks that the number of places of entertainment must be increased, there must be some occupation in the country both in summer and winter, “Tatev Monastery and ropeway are very good, but they will come, will stay for some hours and will leave. For example, fairs are organized in other countries.” At the same time Mr. Adibekyan assesses highly the abundance of monasteries and churches and suggests using them in a right way for attracting tourists, “Armenia may become a sacred site for the Christians, like Vatican for Catholics.” Besides the development of tourism, the sociologist is also concerned with the fact that Armenia isn’t discovered also for Armenians, “First of all our country must be discovered for us. I ask my students in Yerevan who has been in Syunik, for example. No one answers. The same is in villages: children grow up without seeing Yerevan- their capital.” According to the statistics, about one million people have visited Armenia, but only 400 000 have been tourists.
