Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan will take tough action against illegally operating hotels from next year, a tourism ministry official told local news agency Trend.

Rahman Orujlu, the ministry’s head of licensing, said these hotels have been warned they must obtain licenses until the end of December.

"They were given time until the end of the year," Orujlu said, adding that the ministry does not issue licenses to the facilities which fail to meet "the minimum requirements".

As many as 315 hotels and hotel-type facilities operate in the country legally, the ministry official said. He believes that the number of licensed hotels will surge before the year-end.

According to Orujlu, most of the unlicensed hotels are located in the Nabran resort area.

"The number of operating facilities has dropped because of the winter season. Necessary measures will be taken with regard to these hotels once they resume operation in the summer," Orujlu said.

In the capital Baku, he said "we can say that there aren't unlicensed hotels and hotel-type facilities". 115 hotels are operating under licenses in Baku and the Absheron Peninsula, which encompasses the city’s surrounding regions, Orujlu said.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev earlier ordered to crack down on illegally operating tourism facilities until the end of the year.

According to statistics, in the first half of 2011, 504 hotels and hotel-type facilities operated in the country.