Armenia On the path of medical tourism development. Interview with Armenian popular PR specialist Arman Кharazyan
Dear Arman, how do you assess the opportunities of medical tourism development in Armenia? Which are the means to promote the development of the latter?
The indicator of tourism is usually assessed on the basis of the development of hotel and transport infrastructure, legal order, support of the state, welfare of tourism in the country etc. It is obvious that the level of tourism competitiveness is an important component for the development of each country, and the growth of competitiveness is a serious matter nowadays not only for Armenia but also for many other countries. Armenia, especially Yerevan catches an attention with its high professional level of medicine, where new medical treatment methods are always practiced and used up-to date medical technologies and equipments; the latter gives us a privilege to compete with the European and other leading medical centers. The healthcare in our country today meets European high measurements, and in case we compare it with American and European countries, we will see that our country is especially attractive for the medical tourism, as first of all, the tariffs for the medical treatments and services are at low price which gives us a priority in the top list of destinations for medical tourism. Armenia can become an ideal opportunity for preserving the tourist’s health, as our country suggests not only combining the holidays and medical treatments, but also ‘’best price-best quality’’ combination for medical services, including the country’s rich historical heritages, active air connection, favorable climate and of course traditional Armenian cuisine. For the promotion of both medical tourism and tourism in general, one should formand develop common tourism competitive advantages that will overcome the competitive powers while attracting thousands of visitors, earning much income etc.
Could you please mention the annual number of visitors to Armenia for medical treatments?
Unfortunately our country is lack of researches over medical tourism, however even in the total statistics of tourism the collection of data over arriving and departing tourists is missing; e.g. the aim of tourists’ arrivals and departures, their expenses, the structure of geographical distribution and many other such important information, that is why it is not possible to specify about the numbers, but taking into consideration the indicators yearly stated by the World Health Organization, we can say that the number of visitors for medical tourism is very low, but we should not forget that yearly we welcome hundreds of tourists for dental services as the dental treatments are available at very low prices.
What can you say about ecotourism in Armenia?
Ecotourism is comparatively a new concept in Armenia, but I can state, that the latter is one of the branches to provide dynamic growth in tourism all over the world, the main resource of which is the environment. Ecotourism assists the recognition and the understanding of the country’s natural and cultural heritages, as for the locals, it attracts them with the received incomes, because of this fact, people start valuing the environment more and more taking the latter as a source of income. Our country has all the opportunities to become one of the most favorable fields in the region.
How do you find the solutions to the possible problems?
During the process of tourism integration in our country both the state and its low level of recognition in the world play a great role. I think the country must economically promote the activity of healthcare centers, agro and eco tourism trying to make improvements in tourism services structure of Armenia.
