Yerevan/Mediamax/. In January-June, 2010, 230 thousand 154 tourists visited Armenia.

Mediamax was informed in the National Statistical Service of Armenia that the number of tourists in the first half of 2010 increased by 11.2%, as compared to the analogous period of 2009.

As to the share of visitors to Armenia in the accounting period, the leading ones are citizens of Russia  (18.4%), 13,8% of tourists, who have visited Armenia, are citizens of the USA, 9,9% - France, 9,5% - Iran, 6% - Germany.

It is notable that only 12.4% of the tourists, visiting Armenia in the first half of the year, stayed in hotels. The remaining 87.6% stayed in rented apartments or at the relatives’.

The number of residents of Armenia, who went on trips abroad in the first half of 2010, made 232 thousand 58 people, having increased by 14.6%, as compared to the analogous period last year. At that, only 1.8% of Armenian tourists used services of tour agencies. The number of local customers of Armenian tour agencies, despite growth in the number of tourist flow from Armenia, reduced by 4.5%, as compared to the first half of 2009.