The price of the dollar at exchange rate points has gone all the way down to 359. However, I won’t tire you with the formation of the exchange rate or the influence it has on exports. We’ll simply register that this year the dram is being evaluated much more quickly and has already approached the 357 dram limit foreseen for 2007.
Instead, I will talk about tourism. Among many other fields, the rise of this field is always praised about. For example, according to official statistics, in 2006, 381,136,000 tourists visited Armenia, which exceeds last year’s number by 19.6%. It’s not bad. But the Armenian government is not satisfied with this and has already affirmed the Armenian tourism development program on February 1, 2007 and the list of events dedicated to the implementation. Based on that program, it is foreseen to increase visits to Armenia by 20-22% compared to last year and as a result have more than 400,000 tourists come to Armenia. Perhaps the reason for such optimism is the advertisement of Armenia on CNN that began last year. More attention will be paid towards that this year because the main courses of events will be the perfection of the advertising/informational provision system, development of international cooperation, as well as conduct of marketing studies and more. Based on another decision approved on the same day, the city of Tsakhkadzor has been considered the center for tourism. This is also good.
It seems as though it’s all good, but only seems. The rates are not that bad, but something just isn’t right. In order to find out what, we can start by asking a question that may seem stupid at first: who needs tourism development? Let’s leave aside the historic/cultural, moral and other aspects and take a look at the materialistic aid, which is most important. Of course, we can say that each tourist that comes to a country brings money that is spent in the local market and helps economic development. In Armenia, as we know, the money coming from abroad (it doesn’t matter whether the 1,000 dollars comes via transfers or from the foreigner) has a negative influence-the exchange rate goes down and hurts producers. If that’s so, development of tourism simply ends in itself.
Fine, let’s suppose we’re wrong and they prove to us that it’s not like that. Tourists help Armenia. This means that the tourists leaving for abroad also help the economy of other countries by taking the money they have to other countries. If you think that there are not that many tourists leaving from Armenia, I would just like to say that based on the same statistics, last year 329,347 people left Armenia for touring. That number is higher than the rate of 2005 by 22.6%.
At any given time, this rate can also be considered an achievement. This means that people’s living standards have increased and they can now leave for abroad. Perhaps it has risen, but that’s not the main reason. The number of tourists leaving Armenia rises due to the fact that it costs more for the Armenian citizen to relax in Tsakhkadzor or Sevan Lake than it does abroad. It is worth mentioning that by saying “abroad” we also mean Georgia, which is not really considered abroad in our minds, but the cottages and food are much cheaper than in Armenia. So, when we talk about tourism, we must also talk about the fact that the field is becoming non-competitive, especially for the foreigner. Besides the inflation of prices for services, the tourist loses money in Armenia due to the dram evaluation. Let me put it to you this way-whereas two years ago the tourist had to pay a dollar to buy a “Marlboro” cigarette costing 500 drams ($1.00), now he has to pay $1.40 just because of the dram evaluation. It’s obvious that this goes for all products. So, the evaluation of the dram has made it 40% more expensive for the tourist to come to Armenia. If we add the inflation rate to that (expressed in drams), it turns out that tourism in Armenia has increased by 1.5 times in the past two years. Why come to Armenia?
In this case, the only hope is the Armenian Diaspora. The love and longing for the Homeland may force them to come to Armenia, even if they have to spend an absurd amount of money. However, if the “Armenia-Diaspora” economic conferences continue with the same “wanting-obligating” spirit for a certain time, the longing and patriotism won’t be able to force our Diasporan Armenian compatriots to set foot in Armenia. In light of all this, another resolution approved by the Government of Armenia on February 1 is interesting, which refers to the administrative structure of the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. According to resolution No. 1298 the International relations and Diaspora cooperation department has turned into the International cooperation and Diaspora department. The message states that the government has found it suitable not to cooperate with the Diaspora, rather simply manage, especially the financial aid provided to the Homeland.