Beautiful landscape, cultural facilities, colourful villages, friendly and hospitable people: these are the key factors that can attract and draw tourists to the country. All this can be found in Lori region in Armenia, but to ensure a large flow of tourists, infrastructures are necessary, i.e. well-furnished roads, opportunities for leisure and recreation, overnight stay. To this end, a project aimed at development of the touristic potential of the region has been launched through the cooperation between COAF and GIZ.

Cooperation

COAF has been active in Lori region during the recent years.  According to the Managing Director of the Foundation, Korioun Khatchadourian, the activities implemented earlier set out a firm ground for new, larger scale projects.

“We have already developed the web-site introducing the Debed gorge to the tourists, marketing campaign has been implemented and trainings aimed at development of capacities have been conducted. Our visitors’ centre is actively functioning.  So why not expand further, carrying out marketing activities, let’s say in Tbilisi, telling the tourists about Lori and drawing them to this region”.  

He mentioned that their partners liked the idea, and they expressed their confidence, since apart from words there was work done behind.

 “There are already infrastructures available, which we are going to expand further. The capacities of the visitors’ centre will be further enhanced and the range of the services offered will be expanded. We are planning to have the hiking and biking gear at visitors’ centre. We are not starting from scratch, and of course, we will not leave the tings unattended after completion of the project. We will follow up closely and improve the things continuously” – says the COAF Managing Director.

As Korioun Khatchadourian has mentioned, the cooperation with GIZ, is obviously taking place through investment of efforts and finances from both parties.

“In Armenia, when we say cooperation, very often the prefix “co” is not so relevant. In this case, however an investment of 300 thousand euros was made through the EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia (ITTD)” project, and 300 thousand euros were invested by us”.

Korioun Khatchadourian and Wilhelm Hugo

Photo: COAF

“We liked the initiative right from the very beginning. We believe, that Lori, and this region in general have huge potential for tourism development”, says Wilhelm Hugo, the leader of the EU4Business “Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia (ITTD)” project.

“COAF SMART Centre provides an opportunity for development and individual growth through education to the younger generation living in rural areas, which is good both, for people as well as the overall environment. This approach is consistent with the objectives of our project, implemented by the GIZ and co-financed by the EU and BMZ. We are willing to support creation of high-quality, comprehensive, innovative and high-tech touristic infrastructure in Lori, around the environment concerned, which will contribute to the development of tourist offers”.

What Is Going to Be Established in Lori

“We want the touristic sites in Armenia to differ from what we have today. At present, what we have to offer is either historical and cultural monuments or beautiful landscape. Armenia, as a touristic destination has mainly these two to offer as “selling points”. Few are the places that are really special and unique”, says Korioun Khatchadourian.

“In the past, historical and religious tourism, especially for tourists from Europe, was the most attractive and important dimension. This is good indeed and it is necessary to continue along this path, but this is not enough nowadays. We need to diversify the touristic products, having offers for a whole family”, mentions Wilhelm Hugo.

Photo: COAF

Within the frame of the project launched, it is planned to create a vast variety of leisure and entertainment options along the Debed gorge, with interesting touristic stopovers extending from Vanadzor to the Georgian boarder:

“The first very special construction is going to be a glass viewing platform over the Debed gorge which will give an opportunity to enjoy the splendid view from above.  Secondly, we are planning to have installations combining contemporary art and architecture. They will be placed along the gorge, having a special thematic focus. The Debed gorge, Dsegh and Lori in general are so full of Tumanyan spirit. Thus, we want to have the theme of this fairy-tale world here”, says Korioun Khatchadourian.

It is envisaged to promote also extreme tourism in Lori within the frame of the project.

“We already have some rafting offers in Lori, so we would like to have also hiking and biking trails along the gorge. It is around 2.5-3 hours drive from Yerevan to get to Lori. We want this road to be full of interesting and unique stopovers, so that the visitors should not come to Lori to see just one historical monument. This can really be discouraging for a tourist, making him think: “Well, does it really worth to have a 3-hours’ drive with little time left to see, for instance Sanahin?”. We must offer number of other attractions in the surrounding areas”, says the COAF Managing Director.  

Sustainable and well-paid jobs for the locals

“There are three basic factors for attracting tourists”, says Korioun Khatchadourian.

“The first one is the marketing, to increase the awareness and make people wish to visit this particular site. So, we have number of events planned to this end. There is much to do in the field of digital marketing, through social media, websites, applications. We are planning to have several vlogs and blogs. After successful implementation of the first component, i.e. attracting people, it is essential to fulfil the promises and ensure provision of high-quality services. To this end, we have already started construction of a unified information centre at COAF visitor’s centre, where it will be possible to get information about all leisure and entertainment opportunities, find touristic maps, which we have already printed. Unavailability of these maps is a serious challenge for tourists visiting Armenia. In addition to the maps, the roads in Armenia are also not furnished properly.  If someone, not familiar with the neighbourhoods would like to go, for instance, to Sanahin, he may simply not be able to find his way. It is envisaged also to install proper road signs within the frame of the project”.  

Photo: COAF

The third component essential for a touristic site is the training of specialists providing hospitality and other services to the tourists.

“Everything should be done with a friendly smile on a face. We will hire locals for all entertainment and leisure facilities. Thus, number of job places will be created”.

Wilhelm Hugo pointed out that development of innovative and multidimensional, integrated tourism may become one of the key components of economic development of Lori region.

“This will help to create new sustainable, well-paid jobs, engaging especially women and youth, which in turn, will contribute to the development of the region in general”.

The Untold Stories of Lori

Lori region is unique, both for its nature as well as the cultural monuments, though untapped in terms of marketing.  

“This region has numerous advantages. For example, it is bordering with Georgia, which can attract a large flow of tourists in case if proper work is carried out”, says Korioun Khatchadourian. “It’s only 40 minutes’ drive to get from Tbilisi to Bagratashen checkpoint. This means, that travelling from Georgia to Lori can be even a one-day trip. Unfortunately, we are not making any investments in marketing, we are not working closely with Tbilisi. We are planning to place advertisements in Tbilisi railway station, airport, bus station within the frame of our project. We intend to work extensively with the tour operators in Tbilisi, to get Lori included in their tour packages”, says Korioun Khatchadourian.

Photo: COAF

“It has been a year since we have Debed community in the centre of our attention and it will continue to be the main focus of our interest, since we are going to implement the SMART village project by 2025. When we started studying the history of Debed community, we found out that this is a 160 years old village.  In the USA, they work hard on a village with a history of 70 years, making it a historical site.  So, we can do the same here, but unfortunately, nothing is done.

There are no materials, telling about these villages except the data available in reference books. We are intending to carry out all these studies-ethnographic, cultural, historical etc. All the touristic booklets will be developed on the basis of these studies”, says Korioun Khatchadourian.

“We are very happy about the cooperation. I think, through joining our efforts we can achieve а lot and become stronger, inspiring others and getting inspired by the success of our friends and partners”, says Wilhelm Hugo.

Yana Shakhramanyan