YEREVAN, APRIL 29, NOYAN TAPAN. A British tour operator has started the sale of tour packages for Armenia-Georgia-Turkey route, NT correspondent was informed by Alan Saffery, chief expert of the USAID-financed Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) program. In his words, British tourists are interested in visiting Armenia by Armenia-Georgia regional tour packages, which is conditioned by a short duration of flights (only 5 hours) between the countries. Japanese tourists may also be interested in purchasing regional tour packages icluding Armenia. It was mentioned that sale of regional tour packages, which include Armenia and other regional countries (except Georgia), in international market is connected with solution of political problems. For example, the sale of Iran-Armenia tour packages has encountered problems in the U.S. market. In the opinion of Nadia Pasqual, the program's travel marketing and communication advisor, 20-30% of Italian tourists visiting Armenia by tour packages travel to our country by purchasing Armenia-Georgia regional tour packages. The total duration of their tour packages is 13-14 days, while those visiting only Armenia spend 8-9 days here. Armenian and Georgian tour operators cooperate on organization of several regional tour packages, and during such combined travels, no tour guide-related problems arise. In order to encourage the sale of regional tour packages in international markets, Armenian and Georgian tour operators should particularly make joint efforts to brisk up marketing activity.

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