During the first six months of this year, we already have 1 million tourists, which is the best of the indicators so far. Chairman of the Tourism Committee Sisian Boghossian, Chairperson of the Tourism Committee of Armenia, told this to a press conference Monday.

"When we compare with the first six months of 2019, which was the best year for the [tourism] sector [of Armenia], we have already recorded 30 percent growth this year. We closed 2019 with 1.9 million tourists; and if we continue like this this year, I hope that we will exceed 2 million and have better numbers this year," she said.

Speaking about the reasons for recording such figures in the tourism sector of Armenia, Boghossian said: "First of all, we work very hard to present the brand of Armenia in the international market so that it becomes more recognizable. We have very interesting campaigns in our target markets, target countries. Many periodicals write very interesting articles about Armenia. We work with various airlines: Wizz Air, Fly Arna, soon also with Air France and Air Baltic. We participate in various international exhibitions; soon we shall go to Paris and present Armenia as an appealing destination. In addition, we are currently organizing very active study visits from those target countries. Today we invited a group of eight people from Italy; both bloggers and media representatives. They discover Armenia and advertise our country in Italy. In particular, we already have direct flights from three Italian cities: Rome, Venice, and Milan."

According to Boghossian, 52 percent of tourists coming to Armenia are from Russia; this is followed by Georgia and Iran.

"These three countries have always been in the first three places. Also, we are intensifying the European countries: France, Germany. We already have quite interesting campaigns in Dubai, and we are seeing the results. There is a large flow [of tourists] from Dubai to Armenia," she added.

And answering the question of what the Tourism Committee of Armenia doing with regard to some countries that have declared that Armenia is not safe for tourism, Sisian Boghossian said that they are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies in this regard, and they have managed to get the German government to remove such travel warnings from its official websites, but this problem remains in some other countries..