YEREVAN, JULY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Tourism can be considered a sphere having prospects in Armenia, therefore, it is expedient to make investments in the very sphere. Businessman Mikhail Baghdasarov expressed such an opinion during his July 27 meeting with journalists. According to him, prices for services are high in Armenia and quality of services is low. Therefore, in M. Baghdasarov's opinion, training centers should be founded for retraining of hotels', restaurants' employees. According to M. Baghdasarov, joint-stock companies should be created in order to liquidate the monopolies in Armenian economy, and their shares should be sold through an exchange. In the opinion of American Armenian businessman Vahagn Hovnanian, monopoly is very important for a country to become fully fledged, but it should be liquidated after several years. As he evaluated, there are considerable changes in that respect in Armenia. Both businessmen stressed that the decline of dollar's exchange rate against the dram has had a negative impact on their business. In V. Hovnanian's words, currently prices for apartments in Yerevan are higher than in the U.S. In his opinion, this is a temporary phenomenon and will be solved soon. M. Baghdasarov said that the dollar's exchange rate should not fall so much, and the Central Bank of Armenia should undertake some steps in this direction.

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