Tourism services to be more controlled in Azerbaijan
By Amina Nazarli
Tourism is a large industry worldwide and a major sector in economy of many countries. Tourism management, accordingly, is an important feature directly impacting the tourist flow into a country. Good tourism management can provide a strong impetus to attract foreign tourists to any country.
Today tourism is developing with high speed in Azerbaijan, with a contribution of 4.5 percent to the national GDP. The country witnesses arrival of more than 2 million foreign tourists and records increasing domestic tourism.
To boost the sector and to simplify work of entrepreneurs, the state has recently eliminated the licensing in the tourism sector. However, after this a number of companies appeared in the tourism market, which cannot guarantee quality of service.
Thus, the Culture and Tourism Ministry has initiated a new plan to control hotels and tourism companies. A State Tourism Registry was created in the country to control tourism companies and agencies and to improve the service provided to tourists.
The State Tourism Registry will be open to everyone, who provides tourism services, said Minister Abulfas Garayev.
Everyone who provides tourism services will be able to enter this system and post information about the services. In turn, the Ministry together with the relevant public structures will check the information on the system posted by companies, hotels, or people.
“But, if there is no address, no name, or if there is an unknown situation with the posted information, we will not include them in the main list of the registry. We will attract companies added to the registry to all international events, programs on improving education, services and organizational issues. Therefore, companies should never lose their professionalism. This is a prerequisite. That’s why we, as a state body, should think about the business environment, and at the same time about tourists,” he said.
Garayev further said that the State Tourism Registry will provide information about the ‘stars’ of hotels.
“After the inspection, we will determine the number of stars of a tourist object, or eliminate stars at all. The company can provide services even if it does not have starts. Provision of berths and a normal/standard meal is enough for activity, that is, it can also operate without a star. However, everyone should know that whether the facility has or does not have a star,” he said.
As for the activity of guides, the minister stressed that non-certified guides should not work in tourism sector.
"Therefore, I recommend travel companies to register all the guides they work with, these people must be certified," the minister added.
Currently tourism companies do not need a license to begin their business. Two years ago Azerbaijan had 260 tourism companies, while after the presidential decree on elimination of licenses their number exceeded 400.
In 2016, the number of tourists visiting the Land of Fire amounted to 2,242 million people and the figure is more by 11.7 percent compared to 2015.
The majority of tourists came from Russia, Georgia, Turkey and Iran making up 33 percent, 22.5 percent, 13.9 percent and 10.9 percent, respectively.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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