AzTA proposes to create registry of hostels, tourist facilities
By Amina Nazarli
Tourism and regional prosperity are generally seen to go hand in hand. Tourism is also thought to bring prosperity to the whole country - stimulating the local economy in providing employment, improving facilities and services for natives as these are provided for the visitor, and generally enhancing local welfare.
To ensure the smooth organization of the entire work, close
supervision of such enterprises is necessary so that visitors are
satisfied with the service and the sector continuously
developed.
With the development of tourism in Azerbaijan, the opening of
hostels and increasing the number of 2-3 star hotels has become an
urgent topic for the state.
Muzaffar Agakarimov, the adviser of the Chairman of Azerbaijani Tourism Association AzTA is sure that a mechanism should be created to control tourism enterprises, including hostels.
He said that since the Culture and Tourism Ministry does not
register hostels, it cannot determine their number.
Therefore, it’s necessary to create a registry to exactly know the
number and names of these hostels.
“Data on the number of hostels is available only in the Ministry of Taxes, which is wrong. How can it be that the Culture and Tourism Ministry is not informed about the number of hostels operating in the country,” he said.
Agakarimov noted that without relevant information, it is very
difficult to organize work in this area, and to determine how many
hotels and hostels are needed in the country.
“Therefore, it is necessary to create a monitoring mechanism that
will register all the tourist enterprises,” he added.
More and more new hotels and hostels are opening their doors in Azerbaijan’s capital and regions.
Today, the country can accommodate about 40,000 tourists in its 535 hotels, which include a series of luxury hotels – Excelsior, Hilton, Four Seasons, Fairmont, JW Marriott, Kempinski – as well as several budget hotels for cost-conscious travelers.
As many as 146 hotels are located in Baku and Absheron peninsula. Baku is also home to several hostels, budget hotels designed for low-cost travel. Here, of course, tourists have to share a room with a few more people, but prices are much more affordable. So far, 25 hostels and 92 apartments for tourists operate in Baku.
Bulks of the hotels located in the country are 5-3 stars, which sometimes creates inconvenience for low-budget tourists. Here you can see the price list of some of them. Prices for accommodation in the country start from $15 and increase depending on hotel brand and amenities.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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