“We should follow the competitors of Armenia to a greater extent (neighboring countries, which provide similar services and results to tourists) and we should decide how we can exceed them both in the aspect of quality and development. The competition also implies innovations and new ideas, cooperation as well as efficient and optimal use of resources.” This is a part from the Charter of Tourism Development of Armenia. This is a quite healthy idea and it’s very hard not to agree with this. But it turns out that the ones in charge of the innovation and new ideas of the tourism sector have exceeded our imagination and have thought of something that is unprecedented an doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Before going any further let us mention that the theme of tourism becomes most popular during these months. It is understandable that it is profitable for the country to have as many foreign tourists as possible. The main benefit brought by them is indeed the money that they spent here. According to the abovementioned charter each tourist spends approximately 36 USD within one day or 705 USD over one-week visit. Taking into account the fact that according to the official statistics Armenia over the past year had hosted 575 thousand tourists we can imagine the amount of the currency that enters into our country. But there is also the counter-side of that. Approximately 528 thousand people have left abroad from Armenia. And taking account he traditional Armenian munificence we may assume that our citizens spend more money abroad. The families with medium income prefer to spend their vacations in Antalya or Georgia. And the idea that the Armenians are spending their gained incomes in Georgia or Turkey doesn’t leave the Armenian government officials in rest. Therefore, the authors of the tourism charter should resolve two issues – attract the attention of the foreigners and in the mean time try to ensure that more Armenian stay in Armenia for rest. The interesting thing is that the first objective is more important since it is impossible to persuade the Armenians that the rest in Tsakhkadzor is better than in Antalya. How is it possible to persuade the foreigners? Just for justice let us mention that persuading is a pretty difficult work. Any person, who can do the math, can figure out what’s more profitable and cheaper. It is impossible to drop down the prices here and Armenians are trying to rely on the patriotic feelings of people. “Let’s buy the Armenian” slogan is being actively propagated in the framework of the “Armenian World”. This is aimed at activating the domestic tourism. It means we are trying to persuade that the real Armenian should prefer the Armenian resorts. And there can no word about Antalya – it equals treason. But the experience shows that this type of propaganda doesn’t annoy the Armenian people and they don’t stop from resting in Antalya, buying Turkish Makel heaters, wear Turkish jackets, etc. And so a new approach is needed – “innovation and new ideas.” And so quite recently we encountered this innovation. Recently during the meeting with the director of First Travel agency Karen Andreasyan told the journalists that this year they are not going to sell tourist packages to Antalya. Then he tried to substantiate his decision, “We are concerned about the Armenian tourist in Antalya, about the approach they may receive from the Turks. Regardless of what they’d say about the safety in Antalya it is not quite so. There is also concern related to the recent tension between Turkey and Israel. Under these conditions it is quite dangerous for tourists to visit Turkey.” Quite honestly, we thought over this for quite long and still were not able to understand the link between the Turkish-Israeli conflict and the people, who rest in Antalya. Who would ever say that the relations between Egypt and Israel are less tense? Is Cyprus, which is offered as an alternate version by the director of the agency, a safe country? If we review the issue from this angle the least safe country is Armenia. Open the webpage of the State Department of the US and read the recommendations given to the US citizens, who wish to visit Armenia. Besides the NKR conflict and tense relations between Armenia and Turkey the State Department also warns of the tragic events of March 1, 2008 and the 10 victims lefts in the aftermath. Besides that it adds that our country is located in a seismically unstable zone. After all this the American should be minimum a hero to decide to visit Armenia without having a blood tie with the country. But none of the US travel agencies would ever say that they’d refuse to sell tourism packages to Armenia because they are businessmen and don’t wish to look extremely humanist and patriotic. Only the visitor decided whether Armenia is safe or not and the insurance company covers the possible risks. But no one would ever think of depriving a person of his wish to visit his desired country. As of Armenia then here as well the businessmen wish to make money no less than in the US. But if the visitors of Antalya are refused to acquire packages then it doesn’t fit in the logic. But this is not it yet. Andreasyan advises the rest of the travel agencies to conduct such actions from time to time against the countries, which don’t have friendly relations with Armenia. Now this is no business any more but a clear policy. Now you may ask. What does this have to do with the government? As we don’t have evidence we cannot claim that the government has covertly ordered the travel agencies to ban the visit of Armenian tourists to Turkey. But we find this quite possible having considered the gradually growing policy of “Buying the Armenian,” the fiasco of the Armenia-Turkey protocols, the previous practice when the government would directly forbid statesmen to visits Antalya. Let us mention that in the event of need we may close the doors of the countries, which are so attractive to the Armenian tourists on these days. For example, the Armenian tourists may be banned to leave for Georgia because of Javakhk issue or Egypt in order not to appear in the claws of tourist hijackers on camels. At any rate, whoever wishes to leave for Antalya is still going to do so even above the territory of some other country. The result will be that the tourist packages of Antalya will become more expensive due to the deficit if the other agencies also follow the same manner. And this will bring to the fact that most part of the people will have to rest in the Armenian resorts by being useful to the super wealthy ones of Armenia.
