The world's leading French hotel group Accor and Project Inter-Invest plans to rebrand the "Golden Palace Hotel Resort and Spa” hotel in Tsaghkadzor into a new “Mercure” hotel which will open at the end of 2022. The hotel will be located in the heart of Tsaghkadzor, in a very convenient position at a height that allows skiers to easily reach the ski slopes and cross-country tracks of Mount Teghenis, and guests can reach the Tsakhkadzor cable car in just 8 minutes. This is the first hotel of the Mercure brand that will be opened in Armenia. The four-star Mercure hotel will introduce guests to all the benefits of international service standards and access to the unique loyalty program ALL - Accor Live Limitless. 

Each Mercure hotel is unique, but they are united by the desire for high-quality service and cultural discoveries. Guests can choose from 120 elegant rooms, decorated in the unique style of the Mercure brand with local flair. Inside the seven-story building, there will be a restaurant, a bar, several boutiques, and a gym with a swimming pool. In addition, the hotel will have an international casino and a state-of-the-art full-service spa. It offers 24-hour room service, business center services, and free parking.

Accor and Project Inter-invest are going to build also other ultra-modern hotel complexes and leisure centers in Sevan, Aghveran, Stepanavan, Dilijan, and Jermuk investing more than $315mln and creating about 1,000 new jobs with an average salary of 200 thousand drams. 

General Director of Accor New East Europe, Alexis Delaroff, said they see a huge potential for development in Armenia, and they strive to take a leading position in this emerging market. He added that they hope they will be able to introduce new Accor projects to tourists of this region in the coming years.

The tourism sector in Armenia has experienced unprecedented development over the past decade, registering an average annual growth of 15%. Revenues generated in the tourism sector account for 15.3% of Armenia’s GDP, and the number of visitors in the pre-harvest period exceeded 4 million people. 27% of visitors come to Armenia from the EU countries, 26% from Russia and other CIS countries, 5% from Iran, and 6% from the USA. The number of hotels has doubled in the past five years, reaching 710. In addition to the traditional premium airlines, low-cost airlines such as Wizzair, Transavia, Skyup, Bees, Ryanair, Airbaltic, Fly Pegasus, Fly One and others began to fly to Armenia, connecting Yerevan and Gyumri with European countries at a price starting from 40 euros. At the same time, based on the cooperation of ANIF and Air Arabia, a new Armenian national low-cost Airline Arna was created, which will connect Yerevan with Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the League of Arab States.