YEREVAN, July 29. / ARKA /. The growing number of Russian tourists visiting Armenia is prompted by Western sanctions against Russia, according to Aharon Adibekyan, head of a Yerevan-based Sociometer polling center.
According to recent data, released by Yandex.Travel, fewer and fewer Russian tourists search for their summer vacation in Greece, Spain, Turkey and Italy, which used to be among their top choices. Russian searches on the web recorded a serious drop of about 27% in June in Greece compared to the same period last year. Notable losses of approximately 40% and 35.6%, respectively, were also recorded in Spain and Italy.
Speaking at a news conference today Adibekyan said many Russians are not willing to spend their summer vacations in countries which they had already visited and choose Armenia that attracts them with its food and novelty.
Russian Travel.ru included Armenia's capital city Yerevan into the top-3 most visited summer holiday destinations by Russian tourists in the CIS in 2015. According to Adibekyan, in order to spur up the interest of foreign tourists in Armenia local travel agencies and other related services should offer something specific, both in terms of food and attractions.
According to the ministry of economy, the number of foreign tourists visiting Armenia in 2014 increased by 11.3% from the previous year to over 1.2 million people. As for domestic tourism figure, in 2014 it surged by 28.4% to around 859,000 people -0-
16:17 29.07.2015
Source: Western sanctions prompt many Russians to choose Armenia as summer vacation destination
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