YEREVAN. - Armenia hosts nearly 1 mln tourists annually, but it has a capacity for 5 mln.

Ruben Grigoryan, Director of “Rumea” Tempting Trips Club,”announced the aforementioned during the meeting with the journalists today.

“Tourists spend 4-5 years in Armenia on average, spending about 1000 euro. Can you imagine how much money will enter our budget if conditions are created and we host so many tourists?” Ruben Grigoryan said.

In his words, although there are enough hotels for tourists in the capital, there is a lack of especially 3-star hotels in the provinces.

“We have “Tufenkian” hotel in Alaverdi, and if you try to book a room, you won’t be able to: all the rooms are busy since last month. On the other hand, we have mainly 4-5-star hotels, which are not affordable for tourists. The number of 2-3-star hotels should be increased for them,” he said.

According to Grigoryan, the hotels in Armenia aren’t designed for holding big conferences either.

“If we had, say, conference halls for 300 people, many international organizations would prefer to hold them in our country,” he noted.

Grigoryan also noted that one of the most efficient ways for developing tourism in Armenia is holding international exhibitions and presenting Armenia to the world.

“Of course, this hast to do with serious expenses, but if there are several investors, a great number of tourists will visit our country,” Ruben Grigoryan said.