Op-Ed: How Dilijan is Becoming Armenia’s Regional Tourism Centre

On any given day, about five direct flights land in Yerevan, Armenia, from Gulf countries: Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Doha in Qatar, with Kuwait joining from October onward. Travellers from other Gulf capitals, including Riyadh, Manama, and Muscat, can connect through Dubai or Doha.

From anywhere in the Gulf, Armenia is close. A direct flight takes around three hours, and seven to eight hours with a connection, which is closer than many of the destinations Gulf families travel to for the summer. Access is also straightforward. Citizens of all six Gulf states can enter without a visa, while eligible residents holding a Gulf residency permit valid for at least six months can also benefit from visa-free entry. They can stay for up to 180 days a year, and the Republic of Armenia has extended this policy until July 2027.

That gives Armenia a rare advantage. Gulf summer temperatures average above 40°C and regularly pass 50°C. The mountains north of Yerevan can be in the low 20s during summer, and Dilijan is only around 90 minutes from the capital.

Armenia’s tourism strategy for 2026-2030, approved this January, identifies the UAE among Armenia’s target markets and the wider Gulf as a market with significant potential. It describes Gulf visitors as a high-spending segment: they prefer premium hotels, personal guides and distinctive experiences, and are drawn to adventure, cuisine and cooler summers. They also travel primarily between June and August.

The same strategy highlights where international guests stay today. In 2023, about 670,000 stayed in Yerevan’s hotels, roughly 90% of the national total. Tavush, the northern province of forests, lakes and adventure tourism, hosted about 23,000. The strategy’s direction is clear: more international visitors need to travel beyond the capital so that the benefits of tourism reach Armenia’s regions.

Armenia has a great deal to offer Gulf visitors. So the question becomes: how do we support the Republic of Armenia in building stronger travel and investment ties between Armenia and the Gulf?

Part of the answer is capacity outside the capital.

Public infrastructure is already moving. In April 2025, the World Bank approved a $100 million project with the Republic of Armenia to upgrade roads and urban infrastructure across seven tourism areas, including Dilijan, alongside Gyumri, Jermuk and Goris. The larger opportunity is for businesses to build alongside that infrastructure: the hotels, restaurants, schools and homes that turn accessibility into a destination.

Developing Dilijan

We are developing Dilijan because it has always had something truly special. Its forests, mountains, cultural heritage and atmosphere make it one of Armenia’s most distinctive destinations. But beyond its natural beauty, we saw a city with enormous potential to become much more visible on the regional tourism map.

When we looked at Dilijan, we saw an opportunity to create a place where people would want to stay longer, return more often and experience Armenia in a deeper way.

Our vision has always been connected with long-term growth for Armenia at large. We believe Dilijan can become a year-round destination combining leisure, wellness, education, business events and cultural experiences. This requires the right infrastructure, and Green Rock aims to contribute to creating that foundation.

On 25 July, we broke ground with Hyatt on the first Hyatt Regency in Armenia: 205 rooms, a conference centre for more than 500 people, a wellness centre and several restaurants. For Dilijan, this is a significant milestone. The project will also create more than 400 permanent jobs and add a new level of international hospitality capacity to the region.

But developing an emerging regional tourism hub runs on two tracks at once.

One is the construction itself. The other is the environment around it: the training, the housing and the community that allow a destination of this ambition to grow sustainably, in a place where people care deeply about how their town develops.

The aim is for Dilijan to grow as a new regional tourism hub while the infrastructure takes shape and for each development to create the conditions for the next generation as much as it serves the visitor arriving next summer.

Vazgen Gevorkyan, strategic adviser to Green Rock Management Group, sees this project as part of a bigger effort in Armenia. In his view, a partnership with an international hotel group like Hyatt is one component of the country’s ongoing development. In Dilijan, the aim has been to build the infrastructure that allows the next generation to innovate here, starting with a hospitality school, then a café, and now a premium international hotel.

As he said on the day we broke ground, “The construction is a milestone, and we need to move ahead.”

He means creating space in Armenia for talented individuals, creators and businesses, both from Armenia and abroad, who want to co-create with us and develop new initiatives here. For guests coming from abroad, the journey is short – many pair Armenia with neighbouring Georgia in a single trip, and anyone travelling through Georgia can be in Dilijan the same day.

Each project in Dilijan adds one more place for that to happen.

The Apicius Armenia School of Hospitality is an example. It trains cooks and hospitality professionals in Dilijan in partnership with the Apicius International School of Hospitality in Florence. Its students train and serve at CEMI by Apicius, a working café in the town, so they can apply their skills with customers before they enter a hotel or the wider hospitality industry.

This is important for investors as well because destination development requires people, services, education, and the infrastructure that allows an ecosystem to grow around the investment.

For investors, the opportunity is still relatively early.

Gulf investors understand the long-term potential of capital of this kind. It can fund the school, support the ecosystem around it and wait for a destination to mature. Armenia is now creating the conditions for that kind of long-term investment.

The opportunity lies in participating in the development of a destination.

That is why we believe the connection between Armenia and the Gulf can become much stronger through more than just tourism – through investment, hospitality, education and the exchange of expertise.

Come and see the Republic of Armenia first: fly in, spend a week in the north, and then decide on the opportunity.

Written by Katerina Danekina, CEO of Green Rock Management Group

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