Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijan and Iran plan to jointly submit to UNESCO similar elements of both countries' cultural heritage and jointly organize tours.

The issue was mulled in Zagreb as Azerbaijan’s Minister Abulfaz Garayev has met here with Masoud Soltanifar, the vice-president and head of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, the Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Ministry reported.

Garayev visited Croatia to participate in the meeting of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization. At the meeting, the neighboring countries discussed collaboration in the field of tourism.

Soltanifar pointed to the cultural and historical common grounds between Iran and Azerbaijan, saying that Iran is determined to promote bilateral relations with other countries through utilizing the capacities of tourism, the Islamic Republic News agency reported.

“We are seeking to pave the way for the people of Azerbaijan, as a neighboring Muslim country that has the most commonalities with us, to benefit from these (Iran's tourism) capacities,” he noted.

For his part, Garayev voiced Azerbaijan’s readiness to develop mutual cooperation with Iran in the field of tourism, and said Baku plans to facilitate the process of issuing visa to tourists, adding that developing an e-visa system is among the plans.

Soltanifar was invited to Baku for an early signing of a memorandum of understanding in this area.

Iran is one of the top destinations for Azerbaijan tourists, while Azerbaijan continues to attract tourists from neighboring Iran. The country unilaterally abolished its visa regime with Azerbaijan in 2009, thus giving Azerbaijani citizens the opportunity to travel to Iran without a visa.

Today, the Land of Fire is developing its tourism potential and together with Iran may attract more tourists from around the world.

Azerbaijan attracted over 2 million people in 2014 and plans to increase its tourist flow up to 5 million people a year. Today, this country of natural and man-made beauty has the capacity to accommodate over 35,000 tourists in its 530 hotels.

Iran plans to boost its number of visiting tourists to 20 million people in 20 years, with a projected income of over $30 billion. The last Iranian year (which ended on March 20), Iran received 96 percent more tourists than the previous year.

The country enjoys great tourism resources such as historical attractions, natural tourist sites, and religious tourism hubs. Today, the country expects a boost in tourism from many countries, once all sanctions are lifted.

While 50 percent of tourists heading Iran do so on religious grounds, tourists from Europe, Canada, and Australia mostly visit the country's natural sites in the north and its deserts in the south.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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