Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Tourism is one of the most profitable areas in the world economy. Therefore, Azerbaijan aims to develop this sphere by all possible means.

The country enjoys a great potential for the development of tourism. Nature, climate, historical monuments, cuisine, rich culture of the people and other factors lay the foundation for the development of many areas of tourism. There are wide opportunities for Azerbaijan to be recognized as a tourist destination in the world.

The Azerbaijani Tourism Association (AZTA) has expanded the range of tourism advertising tools and now began to collaborate with artists.

For the first time, the Association became the organizer of the video clips of "AVITATOR" band in Baku, the soloist of which is famous Ukrainian singer Bojena Dar, AZTA reported. Association has received special permits to shoot two clips, taking into account the performers' wishes. The first clip "Bride" was filmed near the Heydar Aliyev Center and at the Seaside National Park. There has also been a presentation of the clip recently.

Another clip from the singer Bojena Dar was filmed in Icheri Sheher and Heydar Aliyev International Airport. The presentation of this clip is scheduled for February 2019.

The head of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association, Nahid Bagirov, noted that future cooperation with art representatives, which will be used as a means of propaganda for tourism, will be successful.

"Regardless of the language of music, given the love for it and its wide distribution, I believe that our new applied tool will be a more accurate form of propaganda and will be able to win a wide audience. Because with the help of the provided clips and with the help of daily listening to music, people will be able to see places of interest to tourists and of course the tourist will want to visit Azerbaijan to see these places and get to know them better," Bagirov said.

The Azerbaijan Tourism Association expressed gratitude to the Heydar Aliyev Center, the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, the Icheri Sheher and the Seaside National Park administration for its support in the promotion of the country's tourism potential.

AZTA, which has been operating for more than 10 years, has so far promoted tourism potential of Azerbaijan at global events, including international exhibitions and conferences, and organized information tours abroad in cooperation with diplomatic missions and business representatives.

Tourism in Azerbaijan is developing rapidly, and to support the flow of foreign visitors, comprehensive activities are carried out.

Azerbaijan is engaged in the efforts to diversify the non-oil economy, and tourism industry is one of the promising sectors to contribute to the achievement of this ambitious goal.

Thanks to all these, the country has improved its tourism performance in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 released by experts of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The country ranked 71st among the most improved economies in 2017, having risen by 13 places in the global ranking.

The State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan had earlier reported that in January-August 2018, 1,976,900 foreigners and stateless persons from 193 countries arrived in Azerbaijan, which is 8.5 percent more compared to the corresponding period of 2017.

In January-August, the number of arrivals from the Gulf countries increased (with the exception of the UAE and Iran).

Compared to the same period of 2017, the number of visitors from these countries increased 2.2 times, including citizens of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain - 2.4 times, citizens of Qatar - 1.9 times, Iraqis - 19 percent and citizens of Oman - 9.5 percent.

The number of arrivals in Azerbaijan from the UAE decreased by 5.6 percent and from Iran by 25.4 percent.

The total number of arrivals from the Gulf countries increased by 0.5 percent, which amounted to 433,600 people.

In general, every fifth person who arrived in Azerbaijan was from the Gulf countries.

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