Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Armenia, doomed to failure as a result of its government's incompetent domestic and foreign policy, has recently been called one of the worst European countries for British tourists.

Recent research carried out in the UK and published by the Telegraph shows that Armenia is 9th place on the list of the worst European countries for tourist scams.

In each of the listed countries, 4.4 percent of British holidaymakers who visited the country last year became victims of misdemeanors from pickpockets or being ripped off by taxi drivers.

The scams surveyed included pick-pocketing, paying hidden tourist taxes upon arrival at hotels, excess costs for rental cars, pushy street vendors, overcharging taxi drivers and street crime, including burglary.

Armenia, which is grappling with paralyzed economy, sees the tourism sector as a remedy to its broken economy. This sector is very important for the resource-poor Armenia, a country landlocked in the region because of its aggressive behavior towards its neighbors.

Due to an unattractive tourism atmosphere, Armenia hardly gets the thumbs up from travellers as many have complained of robbery and high taxi prices.

But thieves and taxi drivers are not guilty as poverty leads them into crime.

Armenia's economy has dramatically deteriorated over the past several years and economic indicators are worsening day by day.

The unemployment rate among Armenia’s 2.9-million-population increased by 1.4 percentage points, reaching 17.6 percent in 2014. The share of the poor represents 32 percent of the country's overall population. Official data shows that there are people in the country whose monthly revenue does not even reach $20.

Poverty in Armenia seems to remain alongside other unresolved problems that are fueled by its failure to overcome issues associated with its infertile economy and unbalanced state policy.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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