Armenia sees 4.6% drop in tourism in 2024

PanARMENIAN.Net - In 2024, 2,208,179 tourists visited Armenia, according to Lusine Gevorgyan, head of the Tourism Committee, who summarized her first 100 days in office at a press conference.

“Tourist arrivals dropped by 4.6% compared to 2023, when Armenia welcomed 2,316,000 visitors. However, if we look back to 2019—the most economically active and successful year—only 1.8 million tourists visited Armenia,” Gevorgyan said, as reported by Sputnik Armenia.

She noted that the tourism sector has grown by 16% over the past five years, which is considered a positive trend. The committee aims to increase annual tourist numbers to 3 million within five years.

Gevorgyan highlighted that the UAE and Gulf countries remain Armenia’s key target markets.

Discussing air travel, she mentioned that dozens of new direct flights to destinations in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East are currently under negotiation.

When asked about the average spending per tourist, Gevorgyan said that the committee is working with an international payment system to provide precise data on foreign visitors' expenditures by 2025. Preliminary estimates suggest that independent travelers spend an average of $700, while those visiting through tour operators spend approximately $2,000.

She also provided a breakdown of visitor numbers by country:

Russia: 937,823 tourists (43% of the total)

Georgia: 279,368 tourists (13%)

Iran: 178,785 tourists (8.4%)

China: Notable increase in arrivals

Earlier, the committee released data showing that Russia leads in the number of tourists visiting Armenia, followed by Georgia and Iran. The U.S. and India round out the top five source countries.