Standing by the window in her office overlooking Tumanian Street, Karine Hovsepyan, the executive director of Phoenix Tour Armenia is the owner of one of the successful travel agencies in Armeni today.
With a confident smile and a sparkle in her eyes, Karine recalls how she single-handedly started her travel agency in 2009 at her home in Yerevan. Back then, she was stuck in her corporate job, aiming for the next promotion, struggling with tasks that she knew didn’t matter in the bigger picture, celebrating the monthly paycheck, cribbing about pointless meetings, finding solace in being complemented at work, always awaiting the next weekend…
It was around that time, on the Christmas Eve of 2008, when sitting by the fireplace in her home she dreamt of the flickering yellow and orange lights taking the shape of the beautiful Phoenix bird, a positive and powerful image of rebirth, the symbol of new life and new beginning. That vision from subconscious altered the path that her life was taking, giving her chance to renew and change things for the better, becoming free and capable of everything.
The experience of working in the tourism industry for the number of years came handy and the new travel agency was born: Phoenix Tour Armenia. This is a true story of the dream achieved through determination, hard work and persistence. It was no easy task and demanded grit, self-confidence and taking financial risks to gamble in the Armenian unpredictable travel business.
The agency had its share of ups and downs, until it is started applying a new customer-driven philosophy in the competitive travel industry, by offering discount and affordable packages to its clients, increasing customer’s satisfaction and the number of visitors, while increasing the agency’s profitability.
Within its first year, Phoenix Tour already gained a reputation for quality and dependability. During the following years Karine had masterminded different approaches in the travel and hospitality business to stay ahead of the game. Today Phoenix Tour is a full domestic and service leisure travel agency, that keeps providing its clientele with professional quality services along a diversified array of domestic travel destinations, which includes Nagorno-Karabagh, Georgia and Iran – all with the highest standards of excellence.
We are the best travel company in Armenia offering tours to Armenia with special packages. This high standard was recognized and rewarded by various segments of the travel industry, involving awards and citations from numerous international tour agencies.
“The success of the Phoenix Tour is a success of our vision of hospitality,” explains Karine. “It’s the care taken in relation to our guests, the ability to sense the needs of our guests. It is also a harmonious combination of the production of tourism services, environmental comfort and relaxation – the kind of behavior of service providers to meet the needs of their guests with the assurance of their safety, physical and psychological comfort.”
“Armenia is becoming one of the most popular destinations where we offer some of the best tours and exclusive packages to our clients,” continues Karine. “My day starts at 7 a.m., evaluating and negotiating deals, the daily routine of meetings, planning sales and marketing which takes me well into the night. I can’t help but work – it is a matter of knowing what you want to accomplish and then going after that dream.”
