Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan is one of the most promising countries in terms of the potential for long-term growth of the tourism market, the HVS company said in a report.

"During the analysis of tourism improvement potential for each country of the region, we witnessed that though the forecasts for 2012 happen to be optimistic, the long-term growth in the region is limited. Azerbaijan is the leader not only among CIS countries, but also undoubtedly one of the most promising in the world, when it comes to the long-term potential of the market," the report said.

According to the report, "Hotel Industry of Russia, CIS and Georgia: Tendencies and perspectives", the contribution of the tourism sector to the gross domestic product in CIS countries amounts to five to eight per cent, while the mean value amounts to 14 per cent.

According to the report, most of the CIS countries' economies depend to a great extent on the oil and manufacturing industries, which leads to low contributions to the field of tourism in the GDP in comparison to other countries of the world. On the other hand, the total contribution to GDP has a more positive outlook. Such common tendencies support the fact that while the tourism industry develops in the CIS countries, its contribution to the economy of each separate country remains quite low.

The purchasing power of tourists happens to be one of the significant aspects requiring consideration.

The largest part of the revenues from tourism in Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is linked to the domestic flows of passengers (65 to 77 per cent), while in Armenia, which has the smallest number of international passengers arriving in the country, foreign visitors account for 75 per cent of the revenues. In Ukraine, the breakdown is almost equal -- 47 per cent of internal revenue and 53 per cent foreign income, HVS estimates.

HVS, one of the leading consulting companies in hotel and restaurant industry, casino and entertainment industry, on September 18-19 holds the first hotel investment conference among CIS countries and Georgia (iCON), dedicated to the regional development of the hotel sector and investment climate, as well as other key industry issues.

ICON will bring together international investors, as well as influential regional experts and government officials to discuss perspectives and problems of the hotel industry in CIS and will present the delegates an excellent platform for exchange of opinions, knowledge and development strategies of the tourism and hotel sectors in the region.

For years the HVS company, based on research and analysis, has been successfully presenting solutions to problems, which face the hospitality industry in the world, and outlining ways of successful development of the CIS countries' hotel industry.