Armenia placed 79th in new travel competitiveness reportSeptember 6, 2019 - 11:16 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia was placed 79th in a new ranking of the world’s top countries for travel in 2019, improving its standing by five notches against the previous edition of the report. Compiled by the World Economic Forum, a Swiss-based non-profit organization, the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report is based upon various factors such as access to natural and cultural resources, infrastructure and economic performance. Armenia performs well in the areas of safety and security, health and hygiene, business environment and price competitiveness, but show poor performance when it comes to varied culture-led activities and natural resources. Neighboring Georgia is nestled in the 68th spot, while Azerbaijan is placed in the 71st position. The new report sees Spain claiming the number one spot for the third consecutive year, with France landing in second and Germany in third. Japan and the United States rounded out the top five. Yemen came bottom, at number 140. For the fourth year in a row, Bangkok was recently named the No. 1 most popular city on Mastercard's Global Destination Cities Index and was closely followed by Paris and London. Armenia, meanwhile, has been named the most popular destination among Russians this summer. An average of 8.5% of all airline tickets purchased by Russians in the reporting period are Armenia-bound. Related links: Top stories David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. From September 21 to November 11, a total of 2,820 Russians registered at a place of residence in Armenia, the police has said. The situation on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan was relatively stable overnight, the Defense Army says. Partner news | Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. |