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Qabil Ashirov

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Tourism is one of the important sectors that can help Azerbaijan to diversify its fossil fuel-based economy. Because the country has numerous places of sight and it is rich with historic places. In addition, Azerbaijan has mineral springs and other mineral resources that are used in health tourism, and during the USSR many tourists used to pay visits to these sanatoriums. So, this promising sector is a beam of hope for Azerbaijan to get rid of a fuel-fossil-based economy.

Azerbaijani government determinedly works on this sector. It is worth noting that the number of tourists has increased by over 4 times in 20 years and reached 3 million right before the COVID-19 pandemic. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector is reviving. To promote the sector, Azerbaijan advertises its touristic places in different countries, eased getting visas by presenting e-visa and asan-visa, and signed contracts with different countries to eliminate visas mutually and so on. With the help of the above-said measures, Azerbaijan has been managed to draw the attention of tourists from countries located in the Arabic Gulf, Central Asia, India, Pakistan, and so on. Culture played an important role in boosting tourism as well. Azerbaijan hosts numerous sports tournaments, festivals, concerts, etc. Besides, the historic places have drawn the attention of Bollywood for long. It is an ordinary thing to see shooting Indian movies in the streets of Baku.

However, Azerbaijan has not limited itself to the above-said countries, and it aims to draw more tourists from different countries. One of these countries is China. Even before COVID-19 Azerbaijani tourist companies were keen to cooperate with Chinese companies. The Government conducted several projects in this regard. However, the pandemic stopped all these projects. After the Pandemic the government continues its promotion activities in China. Azerbaijan’s participation in the international tourism exhibition in Guangzhou, China can exemplify it.

In a comment to Azernews on the issue, an expert in tourism, Rahman Quliyev, noted that considering that China is the largest country in the world in terms of population, Azerbaijan is showing great interest in the Chinese market. He said that there are strong trade relations between Azerbaijan and China, and these relations are expanding day by day.

“It is worth noting that the Chinese people are interested in traveling, and we are glad that the Chinese people are currently choosing Azerbaijan in determining their tourist routes. It goes without saying that participating in the exhibitions held in China will contribute to the increase of Chinese tourists' interest in Azerbaijan. Also, the rapid development of the economies of China and Azerbaijan will contribute to the deepening and diversification of economic relations between the two countries. Currently, dozens of Chinese companies are investing in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijani businessmen are also investing in China,” the Expert said.

He underlined that the Chinese people are a nation loving history and traditions and conducts research in this field. Therefore, he pointed out that Chinese tourists mainly prefer to visit historical monuments. The Expert opined that Azerbaijan has many historical places to offer to Chinese tourists and also, and Azerbaijan’s liberated territories are important from the point of view of historical tourism,

“We can offer these areas as a new destination not only to Chinese tourists but also to tourists from other countries. In addition, Azerbaijan's health tourism is also well-known. It is also famous for its health tourism in the liberated areas of Azerbaijan. We can advertise all this to the world, show Naftala, Istisu and so on at tourism exhibitions. I am sure that tourism will develop rapidly in these areas, especially after the restoration of all the infrastructure in the liberated areas. Because these areas have great tourism potential,” the expert Rahman Quliyev concluded.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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