Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

A sharp increase in number of tourists cannot but rejoice both the economy and the inhabitants of Azerbaijan, also known as the Land of Fires.

Hotels, restaurants, recreation areas, and shopping centers filled up with foreigners and this shows the interest of tourists in a newly chosen destination.

Azerbaijan, situated on the Great Silk Road, and divided partially between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, blended the best from both cultures, forming its own unique rich culture, which attracts more and more tourists to the country.

The state pays much attention to tourism sector and “Strategic Roadmap for the Development of the Tourism Industry” approved in 2016 stipulates a number of measures for achieving great steps in this area.

Now work is underway to implement all measures envisaged under the Strategic Roadmap, and during the first half of 2017, government agencies implemented 14 percent of the activities. Another 49 percent of the measures reflected in the Strategic Roadmap have been launched during the first half of the year, according to the report on the evaluation of the results of the measures reflected in the Strategic Roadmap.

The state structures had four main tasks within the framework of the Strategic Roadmap: full realization of the tourist potential of Baku, attraction of new tourists to the city (realized by 17 percent); creation of an enabling environment for tourism development (17 percent); development of regional tourism for local and regional tourists (nine percent), and creation of a quality system of national tourism to improve the level of satisfaction of tourists (11 percent).

In total, 84 events are planned to be implemented within the framework of the Strategic Roadmap for the Development of the Tourism Industry. The largest part of the activities should be implemented by the Culture and Tourism Ministry (46 events) and the National Tourism Promotion Bureau (17 events).

The report identifies two main problems in this area: the lack of financing of the tourism industry and incomplete realization of the National Tourism Propaganda Bureau. In this regard, along with the reorganization of the Bureau, it is proposed to strengthen efforts to boost local and foreign private investment in the tourism sector.

The Bureau, established by presidential order in December 2016, has so far organized a number of events, including the sale of souvenirs within the framework of the Shopping Festival in Baku, held in April-May this year, the organization of concerts and other entertainment events. The department also participated in the organization of recreational activities in the framework of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games and the Grand Prix of Formula 1 in Baku.

“The Bureau had to organize more events than it actually realized. All these measures are indicated in the "Strategic Roadmap for the Development of the Tourism Industry". However, during the first half of the year, the Bureau was not able to fully realize its potential,” the report says.

As reasons, the Bureau's management points out limited financial and infrastructural opportunities.

“In this regard, the activities of the Bureau can be reorganized. Moreover, it is possible to establish a board of this structure, which will include representatives of the Ministries of Foreign, Culture and Tourism, Youth and Sports, Transport, Communications and High Technologies, Ecology and Natural Resources, the Baku Executive Power, the Tourism Association and others,” the report says.

Over the past 10 years, the number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan increased by five times. Today, 4.5 percent of the total gross domestic product falls for income from tourism.

In the five months of 2017, up to 960,000 tourists arrived in Azerbaijan, while in the same period last year this figure was 768,000 people.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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