IS 10 MILLION ENOUGH TO DEVELOP TOURISM?

KarabakhOpen
29-11-2007 10:53:03

Next year the government is likely to allocate 10 million drams for the
development of tourism. The money will be spend on research, projects,
publishing. This year the subsidy totaled 2 million drams. Experts
say it is too little to foster development of this kind of business
which has good prospects in Karabakh.

The government of Karabakh has affirmed the program of development of
tourism in 2008. During the meeting of government it was mentioned that
there had been no government policy on tourism over the past years, and
now it is time to make tourism in Karabakh attractive and profitable.

So far the so-called ethnic tourism was developing in Karabakh –
Armenians from all over the world arrived in Karabakh to learn about
its history and culture. Over the past few years some ten hotels
have been built, a resort area has emerged near Gandzasar Monastery
(13 c.), the roads to famous monuments were repaired. Tourists point
to the lack of a number of services, such as car rent, guides, travel
agencies offering itinerary tours.

According to the NKR foreign ministry, the number of tourists grows
by 40 percent every year, but profit from tourism is not significant
for the state budget and private investments.