

Zara Margaryan and Davit Avetisyan had a dream to develop their village, Yenoqavan, conserve nature and raise the interest of the young generation towards traditional culture. They turned the dream into a goal and founded "Berkri" winery from scratch. Later on, this served a basis for building a guest house.
"We started our winemaking business in 2018. Berkri was a small town in Western Armenia, the homeland of my husband Davit's great-grandfather, who was a winemaker. When we started our business, we decided to name it "Berki" in memory of the traditions handed down from our grandfathers. Yenoqavan is a famous tourist destination, the flow of tourists has increased dramatically in recent years. In 2020, we decided to try our chance in guest house business as well. At the beginning we had 4 rooms only. Based on the market demand, we expanded last year and added 4 more rooms with innovative solutions and a separate co-working space," Zara Margaryan told EcoLur.
The scaling up of the guest house became possible thanks to "Living Landscapes for Market Development in Armenia" (LILA) project, with the support of which the small guest house was expanded with new spacious family suits, a co-working space, a spacious open-air gastro pavilion, where dishes prepared exclusively from local products are served. Master classes of gata and nazuk are held, various concerts are organized in Yenoqavan, creating an event tourism platform. The construction and further expansion of the guest house also contributes to the development of the village. All the food needed by "Berkri" is bought from fellow villagers.
Over time the couple also improved their skills and knowledge in marketing and promotion in tourism and hospitality business. With the support of the LILA project Zara participated in various courses in the field of hospitality, applied the knowledge in the promotion and development of their small family business. Within the framework of the same project in June 2024, Davit Avetisyan visited Moldova to participate in an exchange program with National Inbound and Domestic Tourism Association of Moldova (ANTRIM) , the partner of "Strategic Development Agency" NGO, visited many large and medium-sized wineries, got acquainted with the successful experience of organizing wine tourism and rural tourism in Moldova.
Zara Margaryan believes that tourism and hospitality have great development potential in Yenoqavan. The problem is that many people don't take risk, because they are afraid they won't succeed.
Living Landscapes for Market Development in Armenia (LILA) is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by WWF-Armenia in collaboration with SDA NGO.
August 05, 2024 at 14:14