Yerevan, April 11 /Mediamax/. The basic obstacles to the development of tourism in Armenia are the discrepancy between the local tourism service and the international standards, the unbalanced price policy, as well as the insufficient elaboration of the image of the country.

Mediamax reports that the Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development of Armenia Ara Petrosian said this, speaking during the two-day conference “Increase of competitiveness of the Armenian tourism sector”, launched in Yerevan today.

The main aim of the conference is to familiarize the specialists, working in the sphere of tourism, with the results of the research, during which the variants of turning Armenia into an attractive tourism object were being considered.

Special part in the program is devoted to the Armenian Diaspora of the USA, as, according to the research, 52% of the representatives of the given Diaspora, plan to visit Armenia in the course of the nearest 5 years.

“Tourism is developing in Armenia. In 2006, 380 thousand people visited our country, this year their number, most likely, will reach the point of 400 thousand. Nevertheless, we still have to solve many problems”, Ara Petrosian stated.

The head of the Union of tour operators of Armenia Araik Vardanian stressed the importance of licensing of the Armenian tourism companies and hotels, by means of conferring them “stars”.

The organizers of the “Increase of competitiveness of the Armenian tourism sector” conference are the Armenian Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Armenian Tourism Development Agency.