ArmInfo. Under the most optimistic scenario, the restoration of the main tourism industry in Armenia should be expected in April next year. A similar opinion on May 19 during the working discussions in the Parliament with the participation of representatives of the tourism industry was stated by the Head of the Tourism Federation of the Republic of Armenia Mehak Apresyan. At the same time, he emphasized that from the end of August and the beginning of September of this year a gradual resumption of tourist inflows is already possible. In particular, Apresyan noted that the tourism sector received the most severe blow from the coronavirus epidemic, the subjects of which have completely lost their income, and this is in the presence of many credit and tax obligations. Having greeted the government's measures aimed at mitigating the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, which, he said, had been taken quite quickly, the head of the Federation emphasized that state assistance, as it turned out, had not affected the tourism sector.
"The tourism sector has features, and if we want support measures in the tourism industry to be more targeted, it is imperative to take them into account," Apresyan said. In this regard, he emphasized that the Tourism Federation, having analyzed the problems of the sphere, developed proposals for supporting the industry, and submitted them to the government.
The head of the Federation noted that all anti-crisis government packages that market players could take advantage of are not practical and need to be amended. Therefore, as Apresyan noted, there is a need to develop a separate package of anti-crisis measures specifically for the tourism industry.
In addition, the expert, who led the field within the Ministry of Economy for many years, emphasized that before the restoration of international tourism it is necessary to work on stimulating domestic tourism, which involves making changes at the institutional level. In this regard, he referred to the need to develop a favorable fiscal policy for this area.
It should be noted that, according to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, 311,264 people visited Armenia in the I quarter (with a decline of 14.6% per annum), and 275 716 people left. (with an annual decline of 13.3%).
