STEPANAKERT. – The number of tourists visiting Artsakh has increased by 41 percent in the first half of 2018, as compared with the same period in 2017.

Artak Grigoryan, Head of the Tourism Department of the Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs and Tourism of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR), told the aforesaid to Artsakhpress.

He added that the geographical scope of tourists visiting Artsakh has also expanded.

“Last year, Artsakh hosted thousands of tourists from 95 countries,” Grigoryan noted. “Most of them were from the Russian Federation, the United States of America, France, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and other European countries. In 2017, we also had tourists from Cameroon, Mongolia, Benin, and El Salvador for the first time.”

Tourists are primarily interested in the picturesque nature as well as the historical and architectural monuments of Artsakh, he added.