"Armenian tourism develops mainly by means of the private sector. However the Government in its turn does its best for the intensive development of the sector and for our country to be visited not only in summer, but also in winter. We make every effort to get integrated with the international tourism," stated Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development of Armenia Ara Petrosian when opening CTS 2005 international tourism exhibition in Yerevan. In his words, the annual growth makes 20-25% in the tourism sphere. Thus, 260 thousand tourists visited Armenia in 2004. 300 thousand are planned to be received this year. Ara Petrosian also informed that 20 million drams (some $46 thousand) are annually allocated for tourism needs from the state budget of Armenia. Meanwhile, a tourist spends $800-100 a week. In his turn Lebanese Ambassador to Armenia Jebrail Butros Jaara stated that Armenia is an attractive and peculiar country for tourism, first of all through its security and stability. 33 companies from Armenia, Belarus and Iran (2 air companies, 7 hotel complexes, 1 transport organization, 13 travel agents, 1 insurance company, 5 NGOs, 3 editions, 1 information agency) take part in the CTS 2005 tourism exhibition organized by the Yerevan representation of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) with the support of the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development of Armenia. It should be noted that last December the Armenian Government approved the annual program for development of tourism in 2005. 60-65% of visits of tourists falls to the share of the Armenian Diaspora, while local tourists number about 10%. The share of tourism in the GDP of Armenia makes 5-6%, Regnum news agency reported.