YEREVAN, APRIL 11, NOYAN TAPAN. 250 mln drams (about 687 thousand USD) has been allocated to the tourism sector from the 2007 RA state budget. 180 mln drams of this sum will be spent on demonstration of two commercials about Armenia on CNN and Euronews. Head of the Tourism Department of the RA Ministry of Trade and Economic Development Mekhak Apresian stated this on April 11 at the 4th two-day conference dedicated to problems of competitiveness of Armenian tourism. According to him, 70 mln drams against 35 mln drams in 2006 has been allocated to the Armenian Tourism Development Agency (ATDA) this year. "This money will be used to implement many programs in Armenia and to ensure ATDA'a participation in several famous international tourism events abroad," M. Apresian said. It was noted that 270 mln drams (about 742 thousand USD) was allocated to the tourism sector by the 2006 state budget. 21 mln drams of this sum was spent on making two commercials about Armenia, and 139 mln drams - to show these commercials on CNN.

---