Mount Ara is likely to become a touristic site in Armenia. This is what Chairperson of the State Tourism Committee adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia Zarmine Zeytuntsyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.

“We have an interesting plan to turn Mount Ara into a touristic site in the winter and summer, but the implementation of the plan requires a tremendous amount of investments. We will present the program to investors and wait for developments. The plan was developed back in 2007, but it hasn’t been carried out since implementation requires big investments,” Zeytuntsyan said.

Zeytuntsyan stated that, for instance, there is no need for investments for the development of wine, gastro and adventure tourism.

“There is a lot of talk about wine and gastro tourism, but they are not separate forms of tourism since you don’t go to a particular country to wine and dine (all this is part of the tour). Armenia can’t present itself to tourists with only that. We are presenting our country as Armenia uncovered,” Zeytuntsyan added.

Mount Ara, or as they say in Armenia-Mountain of Ara, is located in the Kotayk and Aragatsotn Provinces. Tsaghkevank Monastery is located at the plateau of the mountain. The mountain has rich nature, and one can find 20% of Armenia’s vegetation here. Mount Ara is also considered a site for the flight of paraplanners. The altitude is 2,577 meters.

The city of Ashtarak and the gorge near Kasakh River are to the west of the mountain, and Ararat field and Yerevan are to the south.