Azernews.Az

By Seymur Aliyev

The Shahdag winter and summer sports and tourist complex in Azerbaijan will receive 10,000 tourists daily after the completion of its construction, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev said, the ministry reported last Thursday.

Garayev told a Vienna conference of ministers, "Caucasus and Central Asia -- promotion of sustainable development in the face of global economic challenges", that construction of the complex in the mountainous area of the northern Gusar region at an altitude of 1,400-2,500 meters above sea level is one of Azerbaijan's greatest achievements in the field of tourism development.

Some 5,000 jobs will be opened there following the completion of construction work.

From the second half of December the complex will be open for tourists, the tourism ministry's head of investments and technical programs, Ruslan Abdulalimov, told Trend news agency.

The complex in Gusar will be able to compete with similar facilities available in Georgia, Turkey, Russia and Armenia.

The project on the Shahdag ski resort was developed by Swiss and Austrian specialists. The level of services is to be higher than in neighboring countries.

Tennis courts, football and basketball pitches, covered sporting facilities, an aqua park and pools, entertainment and gaming facilities are part of the complex; hikes, horse trips and climbing are offered as well.

The priority is creation of infrastructure for winter sports: 21 rope-ways of various length have been laid. Elevators with closed mono-gondolas for six to eight persons and also chair lifts for skiers' transportation to the top of the ski tracks with full accoutrements are available there.

The ski tracks are designed with various degrees of complexity -- for professionals, beginners and children. Special equipment for artificial snowmaking was placed along the tracks. Such installations are available in all major winter resorts of the world and it makes it possible to keep ski tracks open throughout the winter irrespective of precipitation.

There are three-, four-, and five-star hotels in the northwestern part of the complex, and also individual chalets and small cottages. Shopping malls, restaurants, entertainment, services and dwelling space, regular and underground car parks have been built there. Also, a basic rope station for skiers' transportation to the top of the ski tracks was built.

Most of tourists arriving for a long time will be accommodated in this area.

There is one more recreation center -- in the eastern part of the complex - which has camping for tourists arriving for a few days. This allows to separate tourist streams, to avoid crowdedness and also reduce the entrance of cars to the main area of the complex.

Tourist flow

Minister Garayev said the activities undertaken in the domestic tourism sector positively affect tourist flow to Azerbaijan.

The number of foreign visitors exceeded 2 million for the first time last year. The country welcomed 2.239 million visitors, which is 14% more than in 2010. 508 hotels are currently operating in Azerbaijan. The number of tourists in the hotels, 50% of whom are foreign citizens, increased 16.3 percent in comparison with 2010.

"Five years ago the number of hotels in Azerbaijan was below 300. Some 30 hotels were constructed and commissioned last year," Garayev noted.

According to the minister, 45 more hotels are being constructed.