Kardashian’s visit may spur tourism boom in Armenia – specialists

Specialists dealing with Armenia’s tourism industry believe that Kim Kardashian’s recent visit to the the country is likely to raise tourism advantages, if not raise a boom.

“Kim Kardashian’s visit has essentially contributed to Armenia’s international recognition, so it will boost an increase in the tourists’ visits in future,” says Mekhak Apresyan, Head of the Department of Tourism Policy at the Ministry of Economy. 

The reality star was in Armenia last week with husband Kanye West, daughter North, sister Khloe and two cousins.

The family's trip to their ancestral homeland received a wide coverage by the international media. According to the Armenian service of RFE/RL (Azatutyun), the British Daily Mail alone published 20 reports.

Samvel Martirosyan, a Yerevan-based media expert, says that searches with the keyword Armenia twice increased on Google while the family were in the country.

Asked how many of the millions of fans are likely to be attracted by Armenia so much to ever  visit the country in future, Mr Apresyan said he expects the effect to be visible only in the course of years.

Speaking to Tert.am, Head of the Armenian Marketing Association Aram Navasardyan said he also believes that the visit is a good chance to boost tourism. But he doubted that a high percentage of fans will decide on making a trip to the country.

“After Kardashian’s [visit] and the Liturgy by Pope saw the leading international media make so many references to Armenia, it is now more important to see to what extent we are ready for that. It has to do with tour companies’ capacities. Can we, roughly speaking, ‘digest’ so many tourists given that all depends on the infrastructures in the country?” he noted.

According to Gohar Ashightatayan, a representative of the Armenian Guides Guild, Armenian guides’ services are very highly appreciated, especially when it comes to the knowledge of languages. “There is now a big market for the main languages: English, German, French, Russian and Italian. Also, Spanish is coming into use and .. Japanese, though [specialists] are few in number. So that’s what we basically have,” he added.

Sedrak Mamulyan, President of the NGO Development and Preservation of Armenian Culinary Traditions, says he doesn’t think that Armenia. which annually hosts seven festivals of traditional dishes, should rely on Kardashian’s trip as a chance to develop tourism. 

He said tourists normally visit Armenia to taste the traditional dishes, adding that a couple of special restaurants in Yerevan developed a new tradition of working with tourists.

Speaking to Tert.am, President of the Armenian Bartenders’ Association Tigran Avetisyan said their organization works towards enhancing the quality of services in restaurants. “Our task is to make ourselves presentable to tourists with all the types of drinks produced here: brandy, wine and homemade vodka,” he said.