Minister offers to expand services of travel agencies
By Nigar Orujova
Prices of travel agencies correspond to the potential of Azerbaijani citizens, Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev said commenting on the issue of tourism price reduction for this year.
According to Garayev, tickets in most of the travel agencies have been booked for the following month; in this case, it is impossible to force anyone to cut prices.
The minister also spoke about monitoring of travel agencies, preparations for this season and the existing shortfalls. He cited certain shortcomings of the travel agencies and orders were issued to eliminate them.
"The monitoring focuses on such issues as compliance with sanitary standards, improving the quality of services, increasing the range of services, etc. During the second monitoring, it is already becoming clear that these facilities are ready to accomodate visitors. However, there are facilities that need more attention," Garayev said.
According to Garayev, the services of travel agencies should not be limited to food and an increase of the range of services is needed.
"The services have to be diverse, it is necessary to organize various tours. Travel agencies are assisted by local bodies in this issue," he said.
Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) and the Culture and Tourism Ministry started a monitoring to scrutinize the quality of the travel agencies' services across Azerbaijan in May.
Earlier in June the ministry concluded that some tourism zones were not ready for the summer season and gave the tourism facilities an opportunity to eliminate the revealed shortfalls.
The summer tourism season starts in Azerbaijan in mid-June, while tourist trips outside the country started in the middle of May.
The number of hotels in Azerbaijan has been on the rise recently. However, only 260 of the 514 operating hotels have obtained licenses.
221 licensed travel agencies operate in the country.
Some 2.5 million foreign tourists visited Azerbaijan in 2012, and the country expects an increase of 70 to 80 percent in the tourist flow in the next five to six years.