The Tourism Development Center of Vayots Dzor region has been nominated as the official Armenia representative of an international organization that is being founded with the purpose to develop a Wine Route within Black Sea countries. Such a decision was made at an expert meeting of the European Council’s Wine Culture Tourism Exchange (WCTE) pilot program on October 5, 2009 in the Armenian resort city of Jermuk.  The event had been organized with support from the Ministry of Economy, “Work and Motherland” NGO of Vayk, Vayots Dzor Tourism Development Center, the USAID-funded Competitive Armenian Private Sector (CAPS) Project, and the USDA-supported Center of Agribusiness and Rural Development (CARD) Project.

Marking the end of WCTE’s three-year pilot phase, which focused on the development of regional, trans-border, wine and tourism routes, and the promotion of peace and economic prosperity in the region, the meeting refocused the work of the WCTE program activity, to make it more relevant to the larger political developments in the Region and to agree on management structures and resources for future activities. The meeting was attended by Council of Europe experts, representatives of the WCTE, Armenian Government, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization and local tourism industry.

Experts discussed the possibilities of creating an international organization that will take over the initiative to develop the Wine Route among Black Sea countries. France was suggested as the official location of the organization, and Vayots Dzor Tourism Development Center was proposed as the official representative of the organization in Armenia.

Today, wine tourism is fast growing in the international tourism industry, and Armenia has all necessary resources to take up its honorary place on Europe’s big Wine Route. Armenia’s active presence on the Wine Route will highlight the country from a completely new aspect for international travelers and will provide opportunities for development of tourism and related fields.