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Chinese tourists can wield influence over Azerbaijan's economy

19 September 2017 15:00 (UTC+04:00)
Chinese tourists can wield influence over Azerbaijan's economy

By Amina Nazarli

Tourism, a booming business, is a key foreign exchange earner for a number of developing countries worldwide.

Today, many countries recognize the monetary gains they could reap by opening up their area to tourism. However, convincing tourists to visit your country or locale can be a problem all unto itself, that's why marketing is critical for the tourism development.

Azerbaijan’s authorities also care a lot about attracting tourists, through marketing the country and its attractions as a unique tourist destination. The government has made developing tourism a priority.

Azerbaijan, also called the Land of Fires, is blessed with ingredients that will create good memories for tourists, including natural scenery, people, a historically rich religious diversity, interesting cities to explore, unusual foods, exotic fruits, opportunities to bring home great memories purchased here, and above all, safety in the country.

Mountains, forests, farmlands, coastal areas, and nine out of a possible eleven distinct climate zones from subtropical to alpine climates provide Azerbaijan with a broad range of natural environments that can be used to develop a range of tourism activities and to attract a diverse group of tourists.

After attracting thousands of tourists from Persian Gulf countries for the last two years, the country is keen to beckon tourists from Eastern Asia to help the tourism drive.

Kanan Guluzade, the spokesperson for the National Bureau for Propaganda of Tourism said that Azerbaijan is working to increase the number of tourists from China.

China now sends more tourists abroad than any other country in the world. Chinese travelers are regarded as the biggest contributors to the global tourism market, if to consider the fact that over 130 million tourists made outbound trips by the end of 2016. And with this fact in mind, the Land of Fire seeks to attract more Chinese visitors.

In this regard, Azerbaijani authorities resorted to help of world bloggers, which has turned into a new strategy used to promote the destinations.

Travel blogs have become really important for destinations because written or content provide consumers with the opportunity to share travel experiences that encourage others to consider visiting the destination. By hosting bloggers in your country you can have them promote your tourism industry on the internet with articles, videos and hashtags on social media.

Guluzade noted Chinese bloggers recently visited Azerbaijan to promote the country, describe the travel and its touristic services.

“We have already started active work in the direction of China, so that more Chinese come to Azerbaijan. Last year China sent 135 million tourists to the world, if a few percent of them come to Azerbaijan, our country will be provided with a large flow of tourists,” he said.

However, the country will not stop on it, the spokesman said, noting that the work is underway to increase the number of tourists from Israel.

In early October, bloggers from Israel will be invited to Azerbaijan in a bid to attract more tourists from the country.

This year Azerbaijan welcomed foreign tourists from 25 countries, with Russians being on the top. In January-July this year, 1.513 million tourists visited Azerbaijan, and the figure would mark a 24-percent rise on 2016. Only in July 330,000 tourists came to Azerbaijan.

Georgia, Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Iraq, Kazakhstan, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Uzbekistan, Germany, the U.S., Turkmenistan, Belarus, Pakistan, Israel, India and Kuwait come next.

The least number of tourists to Azerbaijan came from Italy, China, France, Qatar and the Netherlands.

Vugar Shikhammadov, spokesperson for the Culture and Tourism Ministry told Trend that the serious growth in a number of tourists from the Persian Gulf countries, as well as from neighboring countries - Turkey and Iran are appositive result.

“The average length of stay of tourists in the country is 5-7 days. On average, tourists spend 3-4 days in the capital, and in the remaining days they travel to the regions closest to Baku. On average, every tourist arriving in Azerbaijan spends $700-1,000,” he said.

Contribution of travel and tourism to GDP is 4.1 percent, according to Shikhammadov.

Azerbaijani people are well known for their hospitality while the country’s nature with its climate, beauty and uniqueness mesmerizes even the most claimant tourists.

The country with rich ancient history has thousands of places to visit, ranging from the capital to the unique villages lost in the clouds. Baku, where past and modernity, East and West have intertwined cannot leave indifferent any traveler. Warm Caspian Sea, sandy beaches and delicious Caucasian cuisine attract tourists to Azerbaijani resorts day by day.

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

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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