Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev said Thursday that greater attention will be paid to the construction of three-star hotels in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku.

"There are enough four and five-star hotels in Azerbaijan, we should build lower grade hotels now," Garayev said, noting that a variety of services should be available to visitors.

A new standard for obtaining star ratings will be introduced in Azerbaijan from next year. Relevant rules have been toughened, "which is the call of the present time", he added.

According to the head of research, statistics and licensing at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Rahman Orujlu, earlier, while assessing the category of hotels, 150 criteria were taken into account. However, at present, the state standard specifies almost 300 criteria for such facilities.

Orujlu added that the old standards did not set minimum requirements for a particular star category.

According to Orujlu, the new standards reflect the minimum requirements to meet a certain star category. They also indicate some regulations of the international standard for quality management. The hotels are certified every three years, he said.

Minister Garayev said there are about 400 licensed hotels in Azerbaijan. They have obtained licenses from the tourism ministry.

According to him, 50 new hotels are commissioned every year.

The prices of Azerbaijani hotels have decreased 15-20 percent in the past two years. "According to the legislation, we are working to adjust the prices," Garayev said.

The number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan has increased 7-10 percent this year, Garayev noted.

The number of foreign visitors coming to Azerbaijan exceeded 2 million for the first time in 2011. The country welcomed 2.239 million visitors, which is 14 percent more than in 2010.

In recent years Azerbaijan has considerably improved its tourism infrastructure due to the opening of such major hotels as JW Marriott Absheron, Four Seasons, Jumeirah, Sheraton, Hilton, Kempinski.