Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Summer, the season of holiday and relaxation, is around the corner, and many Azerbaijanis are already in a hurry to pack their suitcases.

No doubt, Turkey, providing quality and inexpensive vacation for many international tourists, is also one of the favorite destination for many Azerbaijanis.

Recent terrorist attacks in Turkey, in some way has shaken the country's tourism sector, however, Chairman of Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) Nahid Bagirov claims that the situation in the neighboring country will not affect the flow of tourists from Azerbaijan.

“There is no need for concern. We have not experienced decrease in the number of tourists. As in previous years, Turkey remains the main country attracting Azerbaijani tourists,” he told Trend.

As in previous years, this year Azerbaijanis are also interested in Turkey’s Istanbul, Bodrum, Antalia and other seaside resorts for vacation.

Next, in the list after sunny Turkey are European counties attracting national tourists, according to the AzTA’s chairman.

“After visiting Turkey, Azerbaijanis prefer to go to Europe, in particular, to Italy and Spain. Here there is both traditional and non-traditional tourism. Tourists have a chance to both rest in the seaside and get acquainted with the city attractions,” he said.

The devaluation of the national currency-- the manat, before the New Year, in fact, affected the outbound tourism of Azerbaijan by 30-40 percent.

However, Bagirov emphasized that in this summer season the AzTA does not expect drop in the number of Azerbaijani tourists, referring to the report of the tourism agencies.

“We do not observe passivity in this field. Indeed, we experienced drop in outbound tourism this year,but that was before the summer season. I hope the decline will cover only that period, and those who want to relax this summer can take their vacation,” he explained.

This summer Turkey will also attract Azerbaijanis by more affordable tour packages, due to reduction of visitors’ flow to the neighboring country. The reduction of tourist flow from Russia to Turkey led to the fact that prices on the Turkish resorts decreased by 40 percent this year.

Recently, an influential Turkish politician, former Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay said that the number of Russian tourists visiting the country has decreased by five times in January 2016.

After Turkey, Azerbaijani tourists keep the way to Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and UAE. For the past several years the number of tourists visiting Eastern European countries such as Czechia, Bulgaria and Montenegro has went up.

Moreover, recently, Azerbaijani tourists have given more preference to rest in the U.S., after opening of direct flight Baku-New York-Baku.

As for the Asian countries, Azerbaijani tourists mostly prefer Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

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

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