Tourism stopped, transport companies face serious problems: Mekhak Apresyan

Chairman of Armenian Federation of Tourism Mekhak Apresyan speaking at news conference today referred to the protest actions of drivers of tourist buses, saying that the tourism has stopped and there are no means for implementing loan commitments.

“The people saw promising sector and made investments in the sector by upgrading the transport park. New high-quality buses have been brought for serving tourists in Armenia,” Apresyan said.

At the same time he said that tourism is facing serious issues.

“Transport companies are facing the danger of real bankruptcy as they have loans but cannot implement their commitments due to lack of income,” he noted.

Apresyan stressed that he sees two ways of solution of the issue – either banks give loan holiday with sensible term or the privileged loan means provided by the government-designed support measures are allowed to be addressed to paying off the loan.

He said the Federation has submitted the proposal to the government and ministry of economy.

“The issue is being discussed, we hope the proposals will be approved. We must save the tourism sector from collapse,” he added.