Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan is witnessing very large influx of tourists. Natural resources of the country, beauty of its cities, as well as stability and security prevailing in Azerbaijan attract more tourists.

President Ilham Aliyev made this remark as part of his visit to Azerbaijan’s one of the developing regions -- Gabala on August 10.

He added that prestigious international events held in Baku and other places of the country such as Baku 2015 European Games, Formula 1 European Grand Prix, numbering the audience of 500 million people, also play their role.

Azerbaijani President noted that tourism is an area that has great importance for any country. "I am glad that, steps carried out in Azerbaijan to popularize our country in the world also serve for the development of tourism,” he said.

Not only Azerbaijan’s capital, but also its regions are beautiful, said President Aliyev, stressing that perfect conditions are created there as well.

Today, Gabala is the second tourist destination of the country after Baku, and all work here is carried out carefully and tastefully, the president noted.

“Gabala is one of the beautiful places of Azerbaijan. Gabala has a very rich history. It is an historic city and historic region. At the same time, it has beautiful nature. The progress taking place in recent years in Gabala corresponds to its beauty, history and nature,” the head of state emphasized.

People living here can see how prettier Gabala has become, he underlined.

“New houses, tourist facilities and public buildings are under construction in the region. Several years ago, the international airport was built here on my initiative. Some had dubious approach to this issue. However, today, flights in different directions are carried out,” he said.

This year, Gabala hosted the eighth International Music Festival, the president mentioned, stressing that all these activities, turn Azerbaijan into an even more attractive country for tourists.

“As I was informed today, in summer, numerous Gabala hotels have no free rooms. Citizens of the country, foreigners come here to rest and get acquainted with Azerbaijan, admiring the beauty of Gabala,” the head of state said.

In connection with the further development of Gabala, complementary measures will be taken, and additional funding has already allocated, the president emphasized.

Within the framework of his visit to Gabala, President Aliyev attended the opening of numerous highways and facilities, including Qafqaz Tufandag Mountain Resort, the construction of which started in 2014. The five-storey hotel that occupies a total area of 4 hectares, with the area of the construction site being 3,400 square meters, will also offer alpine skiing services.

He also attended the opening of Gabala regional ASAN xidmət center of the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations. ASAN, which means “easy” in Azerbaijani, is a mechanism of rendering public and private services from one single space, completely exclude any possible negative aspects, which they faced with during the registration of documents before the establishment of the center.

ASAN Service center was established by the presidential decree in 2012. The Service which already has nine centers across the country provides a venues for state agencies to render their services in a uniformed and coordinated manner.

The tenth center has been opened in Gabala, and from now on citizens will be able to use these excellent facilities here too.

"ASAN xidmət is a product of Azerbaijan," President Aliyev stressed. “For three and a half years, the center has got about 11 million appeals. This is a very serious progress in the public service sector. Essentially, it is a great revolution, as all we remember that, several years ago, people sometimes waited days, weeks, and faced with certain difficulties to get their documents or certificate. And now people enjoy opportunities of the center.”

As part of his visit to Azerbaijan’s regions, President Aliyev also visited Ismayilli region, where he participated at the opening of Ismayilli 2 hydroelectric power plant with the production capacity of 1.6 MW.

President further attended the opening of ISMA BIKES bicycle factory, which is provided with Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, Chinese, and Turkish made equipment and has a yearly production capacity of 20,000-30,000 bicycles.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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