On November 12, National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia came to an agreement with the British consulting firm AECOM to design South Corridor development strategy. It includes Vayots Dzor and Syunik regions of Armenia. The corridor starts in Noravank (13th century monastery) and neighboring village Areni and runs along southern caves of Armenia, including the city of Jermuk, ancient Carahunge observatory, Tatev and Vorotan gorge. Then, the corridor goes to the cities of Goris and Kapan (to Meghri).

Developing these tourist destinations, a 4-6 hours long trip to the south of Armenia will probably turn into an interesting four-day journey. 

Bekor Papazyan, Executive Director of Foundation, says that the British company will design a strategy for 80,000 £. It will be paid from funds of the Foundation within the framework of state-- private sector cooperation.


Ben Martin, AECOM representative, told the journalists that South Corridor has 2 major components –history and beautiful nature. It will be the basis for attracting tourists, he added.

Strategy will be ready later this year or early next year.


AECOM is one of the largest consulting companies in the world, it has about 51,000 employees.