EU offers Azerbaijan to make changes in tourism sector
By Nigar Orujova
Experts from the European Union advised the Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Ministry to implement the functional changes in the tourism sector.
The EU assists Azerbaijan in improving the legal framework for tourism development since April 2013, through the twinning project. The project's twinning partners are Austria and Lithuania.
A meeting of the heads of twining-project discussed on September 24 the work realized within the framework of the First and Second components of the project.
"Within the first component the project experts developed the organizational structure of the sector, reflecting the functional changes and suggested the development of specific business processes of marketing and communications in the field of vocational tourism," the ministry said.
As part of the second component, the experts developed evaluation report "Analysis of the current regulator of the sector and the definition of requirements on the legislation of the second level".
The second component also includes the issue of creation of minimum standards for hotels, restaurants, tour operators and agents. The experts also proposed the development of regional tourism in the Ismayilli and Lankaran regions of the country.
During the meeting it was decided to hold the next meeting in December.
Earlier in September, regional tourism planning workshops were held in Ismayilli and Lenkeran regions.
The ultimate goal of the four-component project is to increase the role of the tourism sector in the process of the diversification of Azerbaijan's economy.
Over million tourists visited Azerbaijan in the first half of 2013, coming mostly from Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Iran, and European countries.
The number of hotels in Azerbaijan has been on the rise recently. However, only 260 of the 514 operating hotels have obtained licenses. Currently, 221 licensed travel agencies operate in the country.