Tourism
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, PROMOTION AND INVESTMENT PLANS
The Competitiveness Foundation has taken a three-pronged approach to realizing the tourism development potential. We are intensifying the direct promotion of Armenian tourism in source markets. We are promoting the development of new products. And we are developing investment master plans around strategic corridors.
CULTURE, NATURE AND AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCES
Armenian tourism is rich with cultural assets. Ancient Armenian churches and monasteries are the cornerstone of most visitors' experiences. Yet Armenia has more to offer, including its extremely varied and impressive natural sites and authentic rural experiences that are greatly valued by tourists from the most active source markets. This juxtaposition of assets, combined with a reputation for hospitality, and proximity to Europe, give Armenia a significant unrealized competitive advantage in tourism.
THE EXPANSION PHASE OF ARMENIAN TOURISM
A large proportion of Armenia's incoming tourism is made up of visitors from the Armenian diaspora. The traditional leisure tourism source markets of Western Europe, the United States and Asia are still largely unexploited and thus offer a great opportunity for rapid development. Armenia is poised to enter its expansion phase in high-value leisure tourism. This expansion will not only lead to increased revenues, but it will bring with it the demand for improved infrastructure, better trained hospitality workers and better products, which will provide the incentive for breakthrough development in the sector. In order to capitalize on this opportunity, the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia has launched three parallel initiatives: promotion, product development, and the development of investment master plans.
PROMOTION IN KEY SOURCE COUNTRIES
Armenia remains largely unknown and underrepresented among potential tourism source markets. This means that active and direct promotional campaigns with large foreign tour operators have great potential to increase demand and the number of incoming tourists. The Competitiveness Foundation is working with the Ministry of Economy to expand the focus of promotion from Italy and France to England, Germany and beyond. In order for this promotional effort to be optimal, however, new types of products need to be developed and brought to market.
NEW APPROACHES TO PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Experiencebased, participatory tourism products are a natural choice for a country like Armenia, which does not have ‘sun-and-sand' potential and must therefore focus on high value niche tourism. Ecotourism and culinary tourism are two examples which, in the context of the cultural and architectural assets of the country, acquire great potential. Specialized products such as high altitude sports tourism around Lake Sevan or bird watching are also promising. But in order to reach a critical mass and achieve economies of scale, these products must be combined with mainstream leisure activities organized around strategic clusters.
TOURISM CORRIDORS: SEVAN AND THE SOUTH
The Competitiveness Foundation has identified a number of potential clusters in the form of tourism corridors. Master plans for tourism product development and investment projects are currently being developed for two of those corridors: the Lake Sevan Loop, and the Southern Corridor, which includes Noravank monastery, the traditional spa resort at Jermuk, and the Tatev monastic complex.
TOURISM INVESTMENT MASTER PLANS
The Lake Sevan and Southern Corridor investment master plans will take the form of urban planning maps and scale models where prominent infrastructure projects, product development possibilities and commercial development sites are identified as sustainable and mutually reinforcing components of a coherent tourism cluster. Each of these components will be accompanied by a business case and investment prospectus. The investment master plans will signal the national focus on the area as a development priority and the government's commitment to developing the required infrastructure and entering into public-private partnerships.
FRONTRUNNER: TATEV REVIVAL PROJECT
The Competitiveness Foundation has taken the lead in developing a frontrunner project in the Southern Corridor: the rehabilitation of Tatev monastery and area, including the development of a nearby hotel, infrastructure, and tourism products such as a culinary tourism trail and the world's longest reversible aerial passenger tramway.