Azerbaijan to attract more Indian tourists
By Narmina Mammadova
The Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) is working to attract tourists from India to the country, AzTA Chairman Nahid Bagirov said on December 18.
The Association is currently negotiating with various Indian companies in this direction, the head of AzTA said.
"The Association took the initiative of filming Indian movie scenes in Baku, which ended relatively recently. When this film comes out, it will be a big advertisement for Azerbaijan. India is a big country and advertising through cinema will become a more effective method of demonstrating Azerbaijan’s possibilities. Such films will also affect the flow of tourists from India," said Bagirov.
The head of AzTA noted that today Azerbaijan is interesting for filmmakers, because elements of such cities as Paris, London, Dubai, etc. can be found in the Azerbaijani capital.
"We are also working on attracting video bloggers to Azerbaijan, in particular from Arab countries that have a wide audience in social networks," said Nahid Bagirov.
Speaking about priorities for 2019, Bagirov noted that this is an active participation in the Indian market, as well as efforts to preserve the Arab market.
"We notice that there is some decline among Arab tourists, particularly among tourists from the UAE. Arab tourists are very popular among other countries. Almost the whole world wants to attract Arab tourists to their country, who spend their money there," Bagirov added.
As for the regions of Azerbaijan that are popular among tourists, Bagirov noted that the main influx of tourists is observed in Gabala.
"The infrastructure is very developed in Gabala, there are a lot of hotels, modern ski resort located there. And this area is popular among Arab tourists. Today, Indian tourists also went there. It's nice that an Indian restaurant has already been opened in Gabala. This is evidence of something," said the head of AzTA, while noting that other regions of the country, such as Ganja, Mingachevir, Lankaran, need to be developed, which will increase the number of nights tourists spend in hotels of Azerbaijan.
In addition, Bagirov emphasized that Azerbaijan is a very safe country, and political and economic stability play an important role in attracting tourists to the country.
Recently, Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AZTA) and the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.
The memorandum which was signed during the international tourism fair SATTE 2018 in Delhi on February 3, 2018 is of great importance.
Chairman of AZTA Nahid Baghirov said that this collaboration will boost mutual tourism exchange, as well will contribute to the development of economic relations between the two countries.
The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) was established in 1951 by a group of twelve leading travel agents, who aimed to create an Association to regulate the travel industry in India along organized lines and in accordance with sound business principles. The Association has more than 2500 members.
Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) is one of the leading organizations operating in the tourism industry. The organization unites tourism companies in the country, coordinates their activities.
The Association, which has been operating since 2009, is currently one of the largest non-governmental organizations providing training and development solutions for tourism and hotel sector in Azerbaijan. It includes more than 100 travel agencies and more than 80 hotel complexes.
It is a member of the World Tourism Organization.
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