Author: Ekmekjian Janet

Nikol Pashinyan meets Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II (photos)

Ekmekjian Janet
| 16:45 | November 14 2018
Categories
Official
Politics

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today visited the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to meet with His Holiness Garegin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.

“We are happy to welcome you in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and bring our blessings and best wishes for the success of your patriotic works. Of course, we know that your agenda is too busy, but this meeting is also a necessity in order to discuss with you key issues concerning our church, national life and also to get solutions to the issues concerning our church. Of course, we know that the country faces many challenges, and the important events are ahead, the parliamentary elections. Our wish and desire are for these elections to be held peacefully, in an atmosphere of solidarity, without undesirable incidents, contribute to raising the kind reputation of our people and country, and for the election results to contribute to the country’s progress. Once again accept our best wishes to you and welcome to the Holy Etchmiadzin”, His Holiness Garegin II said at the meeting.

In his turn Nikol Pashinyan thanked His Holiness for the best wishes and stated that this is not the first meeting, numerous meetings and discussions were held with the Catholicos previously, including also during April-May of 2018. “These discussions and in general my contacts or the Armenian PM’s contact with Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church are very important. Of course, the values of the Armenian Apostolic Church have a key significance for identity for us, our people and our country. This perception has always guided us and will continue doing so. You mentioned in your remarks the peaceful holding of the upcoming elections. It’s interesting that there is such a perception in Armenia: elections and peace terms have started to be perceived as antonyms for some reasons known to us, but I want to assure you that otherwise cannot happen, and the elections in Armenia will be definitely held peacefully. In general, it’s time for us not to notice contradictions in the elections and peace terms. This will be constant: our people will make a decision, and what decision they will make, it will become a political reality. This is one of the main meanings of the recent changes in Armenia”, Pashinyan said. “The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin has a special significance in the life of our people, each follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church, including in my life and that of my family. It’s also the most convenient place to think about the past and the future”.

His Holiness Garegin II, talking about the upcoming early parliamentary elections scheduled on December 9, said there is a certain trust and optimism that the elections will be held in a peaceful, calm atmosphere. “Our desire and prayer are directed towards the elections to be held with this pace and contribute to the strengthening of the national unity and the solution of problems, challenges facing our country by the joint efforts of our people”, Caholicos of All Armenians said.

Armenian servicemen’s salaries not to be raise, but rewards implied instead – Tonoyan

Ekmekjian Janet
ARKA, Armenia
Nov 13 2018

YEREVAN, November 13. /ARKA/. Armenian Acting Defense Minister David Tonoyan, speaking Monday at a news conference, said that despite the 26.6 percent growth of the ministry’s budget, salaries will not be raised.

Instead, the ministry intends to pay rewards to frontline servicemen thanks to efficient spending of the budget funds, he said. 

“If the economy develops properly, tax inflow intensifies and the budget grows, it will become possible to speak about increase in salaries,” Tonoyan said. 

In his words, 1,400 apartments will be allocated to officers in service and retired servicemen from the ministry’s housing fund.  

The process is under way now, he said, and 120 servicemen have already received apartments. 

The acting defense minister also said that another decision implies preferential mortgage lending terms not only for young for servicemen, but also for those having significant service records. –0–

President Sahakyan: Army building had always been and would remain among the most crucial tasks of the state

Ekmekjian Janet
Panorama, Armenia
Nov 10 2018

On 10 November Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan together with defense minister Levon Mnatsakanyan and other officials observed tactical maneuvers involving troops of the Defense Army’s central military region.

The President noted that army building and consistent enhancement of the armed forces’ operational capacity had always been and would remain among the most crucial tasks of the state and the corresponding work on a consistent basis would be continued in this direction.

On the same day the Head of the State visited the Mets Shen village of the Martakert region, met with the residents and talked on site over the existing problems and ways of solving them.

President Sahakyan gave appropriate instructions to the heads of concerned structures for proper realization of the set tasks.

State minister Grigory Martirosyan and other officials partook at the meeting. 

Azerbaijani press: Pashinyan hints at returning Azerbaijani lands… through his 2018 bestseller?

Ekmekjian Janet
9 November 2018 15:12 (UTC+04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 9

By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:

“Reason says: the whole cannot be endangered because of the part, and, at a minimum, it is necessary to declare, loudly declare that we do not need these fields, that we are ready to return these lands for the sake of peace.”

The above line is from a translated fragment of the biographical novel of the acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan entitled “The Other Side of the Earth”, which became a bestseller in the country in 2018.

The excerpt was published under the same headline on the Armenian analytical portal “Voskanapat”.

Pashinyan, who became Prime Minister of Armenia as a result of the velvet revolution, who was sometimes considered a “protégé” of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, was remembered in 2015 for his claims to to return the occupied regions around Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.

In 1997-1998, then-President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan proposed a plan to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, implying the demilitarization of the occupied territories and the return of a number of settlements to Azerbaijan.

As a result, Prime Minister Robert Kocharyan, Minister of Internal Affairs and National Security Serzh Sargsyan and Minister of Defense Vazgen Sargsyan, dissatisfied with such a plan, actually forced him to resign before the end of his Presidential tenure – February 3, 1998.

During the 2008 presidential election, Ter-Petrosyan, made an attempt to return to power, and as a result he gathered 21.5 percent of the votes and settled for the second place. Serzh Sargsyan, the protege of the incumbent President Robert Kocharyan, won the election.

The opposition, however, did not recognize the election results and accused the authorities of fraud. Thousands of people went out to the streets of Yerevan. The confrontation turned into unrest, during which 131 people were injured, eight of whom died from gunshot wounds. On the same day, Kocharyan announced the state of emergency for 20 days in Yerevan.

The mentioned political biographical novel “The Other Side of the Earth”, was published in parts in May-December 2008 in the “Haykakan Zhamanak” newspaper when Pashinyan was hiding.

The author describes in the book how he, allegedly, illegally left Armenia, since he was on the wanted list after the events of March 1, 2008. That is, the book was a direct result of the riots of 2008, when Pashinyan was still a supporter of Ter-Petrosyan. However, we assume that he still remains a supporter of Ter-Petrosyan.

As we see, Pashinyan, like Ter-Petrosyan, even then understood that the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is impossible without the return of Azerbaijani lands, about which, as it turns out, he even openly wrote.

So why did Pashinyan change his rhetoric after coming to power? Is the fact that the power struggle in the country, as the Turkish expert on the Caucasus Mehmet Fatih Oztarsu told Trend earlier, is being built around the Karabakh issue, and if someone tries to change the country’s position on this issue, then he can be dismissed from the government the next day?

As we remember, the US Ambassador Richard Mills, in an interview with the Armenian portal EVN Report, stated that Armenia would have to make compromises with Azerbaijan in order to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and expressed hope that the transition period which Armenia had entered would lead to a discussion of the options which the country has and the compromises which the country is ready for, because what he heard before was worrisome.

The topic of returning the lands has recently been heard and is being discussed more and more often in Armenia. Perhaps, instead of engaging in populism in order to preserve power, it is worthwhile to start preparing the people for the compromises that the country will have to make anyway?

—

Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov


Commentary: Quantum politics and predicting the US-China rivalry

Ekmekjian Janet
Channel News Asia, Singapore
Nov 11 2018

A paradigm shift is needed to understand modern geopolitics, says University of Hong Kong’s Andrew Sheng.

China is currently in an escalating trade war with the Trump administration (Photo: AFP/STR)

HONG KONG: US President Donald Trump’s recent United Nations address provoked a number of responses. One of the most interesting came from former physicist and current President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian. 

In an interview with the Financial Times, Sarkissian argued that we need to think about politics like we think about “quantum behaviour”. He went on to suggest that “we are living through a dynamic process of change” and that “we have to look at our world in a completely different way”.

But what has “quantum politics” got to do with geopolitical rivalry?

The West’s underlying worldview derives from an empirical perspective of science that emerged during the scientific revolution. 

In the 18th century, leading thinkers pushed for scientific methodologies that were both rational and mechanical. They assumed the world could be observed and objectively measured independently of human sentiment.

This paradigm began to dominate Western philosophy and the human sciences. Ever since science and mathematics began being taught in schools, this classical paradigm has dominated non-Western and Western societies alike. 

It was a comforting view of the world — science could remove uncertainty in the quest for human improvement.

But when Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity emerged in the early 19th century — followed by the quantum theory of Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principles — views began to diverge as to what science was telling us. This uncertainty also spread to the social sciences.

WORLD FILLED WITH UNCERTAINTIES

Flora Lewis was the first to observe this schism in scientific thought, arguing that modern physics proves that “the world is a mass of uncertainties” where “predictions of reality must be based only on waves of probability”. 

The social sciences appeared to be offering solutions with certainty under circumstances where apparently there was none. Lewis suggests that “the quantum mechanics of politics” demands from us an understanding that flux is inevitable.

Armen Sarkissian, who was chosen by Armenia’s parliament as the country’s new president, attends a parliamentary session in Yerevan, Armenia March 2, 2018. (Photo: REUTERS/Vahram Baghdasaryan/Photolure)

When the Global Financial Crisis broke out in 2007, the British Academy admitted to the Queen of England that they failed to see the crisis coming. It was an admission that mainstream economic and political theory did not correspond with reality.

Indeed, the failure of polls to predict Brexit or Trump’s election confirms that expert paradigms are flawed. The idea that economic systems are inherently stable is being challenged. Without economic stability, political instability is a likely consequence.

So what concepts in quantum theory might help us understand international relations today? The non-classical world is one of multi-states, entanglement and relativity — all of which put uncertainty at the heart of natural and human behaviour.

Classical social science suggests that everything is well defined and either good or bad, so truth is absolute. But quantum theory suggests that multiple states can exist simultaneously, like Schrodinger’s cat, both dead and alive simultaneously. 

This leads to entanglement, where purity becomes unattainable. In economic terminology, the externalities are always non-zero.

US-CHINA RIVALRY

What relevance is this to current US–China tensions?

Henry Kissinger once said that to Americans, every foreign policy problem has a unique and elegant solution. For the Chinese, every solution brings multiple problems. Historian Wang Gungwu suggests that Americans think in terms of ideology, whereas the Chinese think in terms of systems.

With is obsession with the US–China bilateral trade deficit, the President Donald Trump thinks that any deficit is a win for China. Classical game theory suggests that, absent knowledge, the two countries will not cooperate so as to avoid costly tariffs. 

But even in situations of uncertainty, cooperation on global issues can be a win–win. Global and national political problems are more complicated than ever and classical paradigms cannot readily explain how this has come to pass.

China’s trade deficit with the US jumped almost 20% in the first quarter of the year (Photo: AFP/Johannes EISELE)

Brexit and the US–China trade war are all about disentanglement, an unravelling of systems and processes that will be extremely costly and unpredictable. 

Classical thinking suggests that the shift to unilateral decision-making and bilateralism might be a win for the United States in the short-term. But the complex long-term consequences for the global system will not come cheap.

Sarkissian’s observation suggests we need to break out of classical modes of thinking in order to understand how a complex world is affected by what is akin to “quantum behaviour”. 

Trump is hard to predict using conventional logic, but his strategies and tactics have a pattern — he uses uncertainty to disrupt opponents that presume conventional thinking.

The current trade war is more psychological than real — it will take time for the effects of higher tariffs to impact on the macro economy and consumer decisions. But the rules of psychological warfare seem to suggest that threats have zero marginal cost, with high payoff if opponents yield to threats.

Sun Zi’s classical phrase is embedded in over 3000 years of Chinese thinking — know yourself before knowing your enemy. 

There are no easy battles, only long wars and the most difficult task of all is conquering one’s self. In this, the insights of quantum theory, which have similarities with Chinese systemic thinking, might just help.

Andrew Sheng is Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong. This commentary first appeared in East Asia Forum.


"Killing Orders": Clark University professor discusses Armenian Genocide

Ekmekjian Janet
The Gatepost: Framingham State College
November 9, 2018 Friday
“Killing Orders”: Clark University professor discusses Armenian Genocide
 
by  Gordon Rupert
 
These writings have been discredited by the Turkish government because there is no copy of the original documents, and they argued there was never a bureaucrat named Naim Efendi. This claim was considered valid by many academics for years.
 
Akcam said Andonian moved to Paris after WWI to be part of the Armenian Tribunal in 1921, where he became the curator of a museum, in which his documents were placed and have since been lost.
 
There is still, however, one record of these documents that is known.
 
In the 1960s, an Armenian Orthodox priest by the name of Krikor Guerguerian was allowed access to the restricted section of the museum, where the documents were stored. He brought a camera hidden under his robes and recorded Andonian’s collection of documents, Akcam said.
 
This recording ended up in the hands of Guerguerian’s nephew, who moved to New York, and was kept from the public for years.
 
In 2015, Akcam gave him a call.
 
After more than 50 years, the video of these documents was released to someone who could make sense of them.
 
In the documents, Akcam found encoded messages sent within the Turkish army, talking openly about the murder and displacement of Armenians. When these were denied by the Turkish government as false codes, Akcam found the original codebooks from the years the genocide happened, several of which were released by the Turkish government, Akcam said.
 
Junior Natalie Chaprazian, an FSU student of Armenian heritage, said, “I’ve never been to something like this before where they have documentation proving it. We don’t talk about documentation in the Armenian community because we know it happened. You don’t need documentation like that. You have family that went through that. They have stories that were passed down. It’s hard to see things like, ‘Go hunt. Go kill,’ because that’s your history.”
 
Akcam said he plans to release all of the documentation he found onto the internet later this year.
 
When asked about future plans, he said, “There won’t be any other big documents or discoveries. We have more direct evidence in the Armenian Genocide case than the Holocaust. We don’t have so many direct killing orders in the Holocaust. In the Armenian case, we have several direct telegrams that include direct killing orders.”

During the February Munich Security Conference, the key topic will be the Karabakh settlement

Ekmekjian Janet
Arminfo, Armenia
Nov 2 2018
During the February Munich Security Conference, the key topic will be the Karabakh settlement

Yerevan November 02

Tatevik Shahunyan. During the February Munich Security Conference, the key issue will be the Karabakh settlement. The President of Armenia Armen Sargsyan said this in a conversation with journalists.

He noted that the initiative to discuss the Karabakh issue at the next conference belongs to him. “This will in no way hinder the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group, but rather contribute to it,” said Sargsyan, adding that the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan will also attend the conference. According to the president, the Armenian side is the initiator in the Karabakh settlement.

“After all, it’s in Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that offered to President Ilham Aliyev the agreements that provide for an armistice regime today,” Sargsyan said, adding that Armenia cannot stay away from global geopolitical processes. “At such conferences, we understand that our destiny is in our hands,” he stressed. During the conference itself, Sarkitsyan responded to the accusation of the Azerbaijani delegates that the second and third presidents of Armenia did not have the right to govern the country, since they were not its citizens: “Only the Armenian people have the right to raise questions of the legitimacy of the presidents of Armenia.” Further, Sargsyan expressed concern about the militarization of Azerbaijan. “With this in mind, it can be stated that time does not play for the benefit of the world. There is a possibility of a chain reaction. There will soon be elections in Armenia, after which a legitimate power will be fully formed in the country, people who sit at the negotiating table will be elected, everyone the hands of the people “, – said Sargsyan. Calling to listen to the will of the Artsakh people, Sargsyan thanked the OSCE Minsk Group for the peacemaking efforts. “There is no military way of the Karabakh conflict if the war resumes, everyone will suffer – – Artsakh, Armenia, Azerbaijan,” he concluded.


Azerbaijani Press: Internet freedom in Azerbaijan is deteriorating – Freedom House

Ekmekjian Janet 
Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijani Opposition Press
November 1, 2018 Thursday
Internet freedom in Azerbaijan is deteriorating - Freedom House
Baku/01.11.18/Turan: Freedom House, an international human rights
organization, published a report on the state of the world Internet
freedom in 2018 Freedom on the Net 2018. The report says that
governments around the world are stepping up control over citizen
information, using fake news to harass dissent and thus undermine
trust in the Internet and the foundations of democracy. Internet
propaganda and misinformation are increasingly poisoning the digital
realm. All this contributed in 2018 to the decline of Internet
freedom.
At the same time, it is especially noted that China applies and
transfers equipment for tracking users to the Internet to other
countries. Such technology of persecution from Beijing buy Azerbaijan
and Armenia too. The report explores the situation in 65 countries.
Estimates are given on a 100-point scale. At the same time, 0 is an
indicator of higher freedom, - 100 - the lowest freedom. In the
interval 0, the freedoms of the country are assigned, 31-60 -
partially free 61-100 - not free countries. Azerbaijan appeared on the
60th place - on the border between partially free and not free
countries. Azerbaijan is located between Cambodia (59) and Kazakhstan
(61). Azerbaijan"s neighbors Georgia and Armenia occupy 25th and 27th
places. The authors note a decrease of internet freedom in 2017-18.
The transition of Armenia from among partially free countries to the
category of free, according to the authors of the report, is connected
with the decisive role of the velvet revolution in this country. The
three most free countries were Estonia (6 points), Iceland (6 points)
and Canada (15 points). The top five free countries also include the
USA (22 points) and the United Kingdom (23). - 16D06-

EU Ambassador recommends that Armenian cheese makers bring traditional Armenian cheeses to European market

Ekmekjian Janet
Arminfo, Armenia
Oct 31 2018
EU Ambassador recommends that Armenian cheese makers bring traditional Armenian cheeses to European market

Yerevan October 31

Alina Hovhannisyan. “In the European markets, Armenia should promote the traditional varieties of Armenian cheeses – Chanakh and Lori,” he said during a press tour in Yelpin (Vayots Dzor region), where the cooperative for the production of high-grade cheeses is located: EU Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Armenia Piotr Switalsky.

After tasting, the European diplomat noted that he was impressed with the taste and quality of the cheeses produced in the cooperative. At the same time, he expressed the hope that cheeses will find their consumers in the markets of the EU and EAEU countries. “Any market is good. But in the European there should be exclusively traditional Armenian cheeses, “he stressed.

Meanwhile, production today satisfies only the domestic market, and is represented on the shelves of metropolitan supermarkets. From next year, according to a preliminary agreement, the cooperative will begin to export a large batch of cheeses to the Russian Federation. “Every year, we provide about 35 tons of cheese from the produced milk with a tonnage of 250-300 tons of milk. From next year we want to increase production. In addition to Russia, we also think about deliveries to the markets of European countries, since we are in no way inferior in terms of quality indicators, “said the head of the cooperative.

To note, the cooperative was established in 2016 as part of the ENPARD program (European Neighborhood Program on Agriculture and Rural Development), which includes 18 farmers. The cooperative provided work for 7-8 people.

To recall the ENPARD program aims to assist Armenian cooperatives in the processing of agricultural products, and its implementation. The main partner of the program is the Ministry of Agriculture of Armenia. The project started in January 2015 and will end in November 2018. The ENPARD program was implemented in the Lori, Shirak, Gegharkunik, Aragatsotn, Kotayk and Vayots Dzor regions of the republic. -sh–

These are the fastest-growing destinations in Europe

Ekmekjian Janet
Greensboro News & Record
Oct 28 2018


These are the fastest-growing destinations in Europe

  • By Nikki Ekstein Bloomberg

    •                                                  

France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom may be among the world’s most frequented vacation hubs —with France taking the global crown with a staggering 86.9 million international tourist arrivals annually — but these already popular places can only stand to grow so much year over year.

This leaves such lesser known destinations as the Republic of Moldova to jump farther faster. According to new data from the UN World Tourism Organization, in 2017, for instance, French tourism grew by 5.1 percent; its landlocked competitor — nestled between Ukraine and Romania — saw a visitation spike of 19.6 percent when it welcomed 145,000 visitors last year.

“When you’re talking about these fast-growing destinations in Europe, there’s often a lack of name recognition, compared to more popular countries,” says Warren Chang, chief operating officer for bespoke travel outfitter Cox & Kings’ Americas division. “But so many of these places have robust histories and a really understated romantic feel-plus diversity of culture and beautiful nature.”

Another benefit, he says, is accessibility.

“Off-the-beaten-path travel is more comfortable in Europe, where English is more commonly spoken, and while it might take time for a place like Moldova to develop as a stand-alone destination, it’s easy for people to tack short explorations of these countries onto their existing itineraries,” Chang says.

For the well-traveled Europhile — and those whose definitions of Europe stretch beyond Western Europe to include, as UNWTO does, countries in Central Asia and the Middle East — these are the top 10 places to go next. They’re ranked by year-on-year growth.

10. Armenia — 18.65 percent year-on-year growth: Among the destinations Chang expects to surge in 2019 is Armenia; in fact, Cox & Kings is slated to debut a new itinerary pairing the country with Georgia in the next few weeks. Among the outfitters already serving the destination are Abercrombie & Kent, Ker & Downey, and TCS World Travel, who collectively tout historical riches such as Mt. Ararat (where Noah’s Ark is said to have made landfall), the charming capital of Yerevan, and-yes-its most famous cultural descendants, the Kardashians. On trips with Abercrombie & Kent, guests also get in deep with local traditions: visiting brandy distilleries, meeting carpet makers, hearing spiritual chants in ancient monasteries, and learning to make lavash (a type of local flatbread) with an Armenian family.

9. Bosnia and Herzegovina — 18.66 percent: “Croatia and Montenegro have long been popular destinations for us, but this year we’ve seen demand for experiences in Slovenia and Bosnia increase,” said Tom Marchant, co-founder of luxury travel outfit Black Tomato. As Croatia deals with extreme over-tourism (it notched a record 15 million arrivals last year), the remaining Balkan locales are emerging as a fascinating, crowd-free alternative. Bosnia and Herzegovina is leading the pack, with its 16th century mosques, Ottoman architecture, and vibrant street art scene. Many travelers take day or weekend trips to scenic Mostar-a quick way to scratch the surface-but it’s also possible to dedicate a whole vacation to this historically rich country, including the diverse capital of Sarajevo, the towering waterfalls at Kravica, and the mountain village of Lukomir, said to be the country’s most isolated enclave.

8. The Republic of Moldova — 19.6 percent: The sharp percentage growth in tourism to Moldova reflects what is, in reality, an incredibly nascent tourism scene: This little republic (population: 2.5 million) has in recent years held the title of least-visited destination in Europe. But that’s changing. Luxury group tour operator Intrepid Travel cites a cultural resurgence-marked by a burgeoning wine scene and unspoiled natural beauty-as the reason and has introduced new itineraries and more than doubled its bookings to the country this year, compared to last year. “The country has some of the best up-and-coming vineyards on the continent, including a vineyard that sits on top of 125 miles of underground cellar tunnels-the largest quality wine collection in the world,” says Darshika Jones, North American director for Intrepid Travel.

7. Azerbaijan — 20 percent: Yes, the World Tourism Organization places Azerbaijan in Central/Eastern Europe in its report. Now that that’s out of the way, here’s another surprising fact: Bookings with Intrepid Travel to visit Azerbaijan have increased by a full 322 percent. The Caspian Sea-facing capital, Baku, is a fascinating hodgepodge of old and new. Its cobbled Old Town streets are lined with market stalls and well-preserved buildings, while the Flame Towers downtown are a modern architectural marvel in the vein of the Burj Khalifa. That the city likens itself to the “new Dubai” is no accident — it’s an oil-rich, fast-growing hub at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Combine a visit to the capital with some of Azerbaijan’s more remote delights, such as seeing copper artisans in Lahic or petroglyphs in Qobustan National Park.

6. Macedonia — 23.5 percent: Riding the Balkan heat wave is Macedonia, whose longtime claim to fame stems from hometown hero Alexander the Great. Like Moldova, its visitation numbers are exceedingly small — it claimed just 631,000 arrivals in 2017 — making it one of the least-discovered destinations in Europe. Few luxury outfitters plan trips here, though Cox & Kings is an exception; on an itinerary that combines Macedonia with several of its neighbors, such as Croatia and Montenegro, the operator includes places that include the 10th century Byzantine church, Sveti Naum, set high on a cliff near Lake Ohrid.

5. Iceland — 24.11 percent: Haven’t been to Iceland yet? What are you waiting for? The country has been skyrocketing to the top of bucket lists for years and has multiplied its arrivals by 450 percent since 2010. That kind of red-hot growth shows no signs of slowing down as the country ramps up its luxury infrastructure with posh hotels (some with secret VIP suites) and exclusive experiences. That’s making it a focus for Black Tomato, says Marchant. “We’re developing new, once-in-a-lifetime programs everywhere from underground hot springs to vast highland lakes and waterfalls-think meditation in glacial caves, private hot spring spas, and heli-yoga atop a volcano.”

4. Turkey — 24.14 percent: Political turmoil, followed by fast and furious rebounds, chased by economic woes have kept Turkey’s tourism industry on a rollercoaster. At the moment, it’s booming. “Turkey is Intrepid Travel’s fastest-growing destination to date in 2018,” said Intrepid Travel’s Jones. The company is adding three new itineraries for 2019 to keep up with the demand: a winter-themed trip focusing on iced lakes and snow-capped mountains, a culinary journey, and a week-long “highlights” tour for time-crunched travelers. Black Tomato’s Marchant has seen similar growth. “Enquires and bookings to Turkey in the last year have more than doubled,” he tells Bloomberg. He credits pristine beaches and new hotels, such as the Edition Bodrum, which just opened its doors in the country’s top resort town in July.

3. Israel — 24.6 percent: It may be surprising to see the World Tourism Organization categorize this Middle Eastern country as part of Europe, but anyone who’s eaten their way through Tel Aviv or Jerusalem will understand how well tiny Israel competes with its mainland continental rivals. The country’s diverse culinary traditions have become a big draw for Intrepid travelers, but other companies are putting the spotlight on Israel’s perennial appeal: its religious and historical significance. That’s what Abercrombie & Kent is focusing on in its latest small-group journeys, which focus on the dramatic landscapes and ancient towns that literally bring the Bible to life. “It’s not about what’s new in this ancient land,” says the company’s vice president of product development, Stefanie Schmudde. Inquiries from culturally curious travelers have experienced a triple-digit increase in the last year alone, she adds.

2. Georgia — 27.9 percent: You heard it here first: Georgia is next on the lips of serious globetrotters. To many industry insiders, including Marchant, this next-big-thing seemed to come out of nowhere. “Admittedly this is a country where we didn’t expect to see such a surge this year, but once you look behind the surface, it makes sense,” he says. Why? “As culinary adventures become an increasingly prevalent catalyst for travel, Georgia’s historic cuisine is offering the perfect excuse to visit this untouched corner of Europe.” Add a batch of ultra-cool hotels, bars, and restaurants in the capital of Tbilisi-take Stamba, a new Design Hotel property in an old publishing house, with a surprisingly posh, Orient Express-inspired casino-and you’ll see what all the fuss is about.

1. San Marino — 31.1 percent: If you can’t pinpoint the tiny republic of San Marino on a map, you’re probably not alone: The medieval micro-state sits in northern Italy, on a cluster of mountain peaks that lead down to the Adriatic city of Rimini. In 2017, San Marino claimed more than two visitors for each of its 33,000 residents, notching 78,000 arrivals in total. It’s not a lot, but for a microstate that’s just 24 square miles, it’s nothing to sneeze at, either.

Despite UNWTO figures, no company points to San Marino as a particularly burgeoning destination. Abercrombie & Kent, however, said it fields rare requests here, wrapping together visits to the three castles that are marvelously situated on Monte Titano. It’s especially popular with stamp and coin collectors, said Liam Dunch, the company’s product manager for Europe, since the local versions are rare and in high demand. Consider this an indicator of a slow-paced trip: here, you’ll probably spend your days — or, let’s be real, a day — looking at frescoes in the 15th century Church of San Francesco or surveying the landscape from San Marino’s funicular. Its main destination? The postal museum, of course.