YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armeian Hotel Association (AHA) was founded in 2006. 15 hotels are members of the AHA that will implement a retraining program for medium-level managers of hotels, was announced at the February 7 round table. According to AHA chairman Hakob Hakobian, this program is a continuation of the 2007 training program on "certified courses of hospitality industry". 4 out of 20 participants of the program received certificates of managing specialists, 8 received certificates of course instructors of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. The certified course instructors will conduct a retraining program for middle-level hotel managers in February-April, which will start with courses for employees of Dilijan hotels. The AHA executive director Lusine Minasian said that the retraining program will help improve the quality of hotel services and increase incomes. The USAID-financed Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) program assisted with foundation of the AHA and now provides support for its activities. The CAPS director Hayley Alexander said that in the past few years about 50 hotels and over 100 restaurants have been built in Armenia, most of which are ready to receive international tourists but some hotels, especially those in marzes, need to improve qualification of their staff. In his words, 6 managers and 14 course instructors have been retrained under CAPS programs. The CAPS plans to finance retraining of up to 55 certified course instructors. According to course advisor Jenifer Caloun, there is a necessity to implement programs on hospitality industry in all developed countries. H. Hakobian said that Armenia is the first Transcaucasian country where USAID assists with training of hospitality industry experts. The head of the tourism department of the RA ministry of trade and economic development Mekhak Apresian said that over 70 hotel objects currently operate in Armenia. There are at least 10 thousand hotel places in Armenia, including apartments for tourists.

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