YEREVAN, MARCH 11, NOYAN TAPAN. By data of the World Tourism Organization, the average annual growth of tourism in the world made 4-4.5%, even 6.2% in 2007, but it declined to 3-3.5% in 2008. The Head of the Tourism and Territorial Economic Development Department of RA Ministry of Economy Mekhak Apresian said at the March 11 press conference that if the current conditions in terms of developments in the global economy remain, the growth of tourism will make 0-1% this year. In his words, the global crisis will have a negative impact on Armenia's tourism sector, in particular the indices of organized (package) tourism will fall this year. Nevertheless, by his forecast, the number of tourists to Armenia will increase by 10% this year. The number of Diasporan Armenian tourists making up 60% of the total number will remain the same. M. Apresian announced that several measures were developed jointly with the private sector, which will allow attracting more tourists to Armenia. The bill on making amendments to the Law on State Duty has already been submitted to the National Assembly. The bill proposes establishing different rates of duty for an entry visa into Armenia. At the same time M. Apresian underlined that more attention should be paid to prices of tourist services provided by the private sector as the state may not reduce these prices. "We should speak about competitive rather than low prices, while our policy should be aimed at presenting Armenia as a tourism place with high-quality services in the international tourism market," he said. It was mentioned that in order to achieve competitive prices, the state should create favorable conditions and ensure an appropriate investment environment for encouraging entrepreneurial activity in the sector.

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