YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s tourism sector is trying to gradually recover following the difficulties of 2020. Although COVID-19 has not been completely eliminated yet, this year the tourism season in Armenia will be full of festivals, also taking into account the new realities.

Director of the Festivar Association of Armenian Festivals Nune Manukyan told Armenpress that there are no restrictions connected with mass gatherings anymore, which she considers as a good opportunity for restoring the events tourism in the country.

“The Association has developed rules for holding events amid the pandemic. For instance, the pavilions will be installed away from one another, the staff will wear face masks, the pavilions will have disinfectants in a visible, accessible place. The arrangements in the area will be in a way to avoid gatherings”, she said.

Nune Manukyan informed that despite that the annual festival season in Armenia starts with the Yerevan Wine Days event, which is taking place in the first Friday-Saturday of May, but this year will take place on June 4-5, this year the opening of the festival season will be held on April 30 with the Spirit of Armenia in Yerevan’s English Park. It’s a festival of alcoholic drinks, which will take place for the first time. All types of drinks produced in Armenia will be presented. The visitors will have an opportunity to see over 1500 types of drinks. Then, the traditional Dolma Festival is coming. As usual, this tasty event will be accompanied by a number of cultural events. The next is the Yerevan Wine Days which is for wine-lovers. During the event the visitors have a chance to taste the Armenian wine, as well as be introduced on the production of winemaking companies.

This year, in line with all these events, Armenia’s bordering communities will be under focus.

“We will definitely hold the Mulberry Festival in Karahunj. I think that this is very important for the domestic tourism. The community must not lose its attractiveness and should continue to be interesting for the guests. The Wine Festival will take place in Areni, the Gata Festival in the village of Khachik”, she said, adding that the company, which is organizing the Yerevan Wine Days, is planning to hold two events in the provinces, the border communities. “The talk is about the Tavush Wine Days and the Yerevan Music Night. I think we need to boost our communities with the development of event tourism”, she added.

The festivals will take place, however, due to the pandemic, there won’t be a major flow of foreign tourists. Manukyan, however, noted that there is a little progress in connection with the re-launch of flights. There are already foreign nationals interested in travel to Armenia. Manukyan said that there are some tour-operators who are interested in the list of event tourism. The Association will present details about the Armenian festivals and events on its Facebook page.  

Interview by Anna Gziryan

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan