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Heydar Aliyev Airport can serve as hub to bring tourists from Caspian region to Spain: charge d'affaires

28 November 2018 10:11 (UTC+04:00)
Heydar Aliyev Airport can serve as hub to bring tourists from Caspian region to Spain: charge d'affaires

By Trend

Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, can serve as a hub to bring tourists from the Caspian region into Spain, Charge d'affaires ad interim of Spanish embassy in Baku Ignacio Sanchez Taboada told Trend.

Speaking about the possibility of opening direct flights between Azerbaijan and Spain, he said that this is something which depends on the strategy of the air carriers.

"If you just look at the reduced number of Azerbaijani tourist visiting Spain today, and vice versa, the prospects are not very promising. But if you devise the strategy to use Madrid Airport, for instance, as a hub to bring tourist from America into Azerbaijan, then the prospects may improve abruptly. If you look it the other way, you obtain the same conclusion. You may come out with a strategy to use Baku Airport as a hub to bring tourist from the Caspian region into Spain, a country which received 82 million visitors last year," he added.

Taboada went on to add that tourism is a field with enormous potential for cooperation and more intensive private relations.

"Spain received 82 million visitors in 2017. The second most visited country in the world and one of the best industries with assets around the globe. Yet the number of Azerbaijani visitor to Spain is marginal, probably less than 50,000. The Azerbaijani industry is also booming, but it is still a much unknown destination for the Spanish consumer," noted the Spanish diplomat.

He pointed out that companies in both countries have a lot win if they cooperate. "Spain has a long tradition in vocational training in the hospitality industry and gastronomy which could be used by Azerbaijani growing industry."

Taboada believes that culture is another field in which public and private institutions could make greater efforts.

"During this year we have put in contact some Azerbaijani cultural institutions and major Spanish editorial groups. The idea is to translate masterpieces of Azerbaijani literature into Spanish Language, the mother tongue of more than 450 million individuals," he added.

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