Azerbaijan, UK mull visa simplification, tourism cooperation
By Rasana Gasimova
Azerbaijan and the UK have discussed simplification of visa regime and tourism cooperation between the two countries.
Head of the State Tourism Agency Fuad Nagiyev met with UK Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan Baroness Emma Nicholson as well as UK ambassador to Azerbaijan James Sharp on October 28 to discuss these issues.
According to the information provided by the Agency’s press service, the simplification of the visa regime between Azerbaijan and Great Britain was the main issue at the meeting. The parties also discussed cooperation in tourism and Azerbaijan’s winter tourism potential. It was noted that Azerbaijan is one of the safest places for travel and entertainment.
Fuad Nagiyev also talked about the activities of the Agency so far and its contribution to the development of tourism in the country.
Note that Azerbaijan will be represented in the upcoming “World Travel Market-2019” international exhibition to be held in London on November 4-6, 2019.
Some 29,304 British tourists visited Azerbaijan in January-September 2019, which is 26.8 percent more compared to the same period in 2018.
The UK and Azerbaijan are also cooperating in education, trade, tourism, ICT, as well as other infrastructure and transit projects.
In recent years, the creation of the diversified tourism infrastructure in Azerbaijan has increased the interest of foreign tourists to the country. There are many opportunities for tourism in Azerbaijan, including rural, health, environmental, cultural, social, commercial, sport, and other kinds of tourism.
Azerbaijan’s successful hosting of international events has made the country known in the world. Moreover, the simplification of the visa regime plays a major role in the development of tourism in Azerbaijan. Currently, citizens of a number of countries get visas right at the Azerbaijani airports, while other tourists can visit the country by obtaining online tourist visas.
Azerbaijan aims to further develop the tourism sector to facilitate the sustainable development of the non-oil sector. The tourist flow to Azerbaijan amounted to 1.78 million people from January to July 2019, which is 7.4 percent higher than in same period in 2018.
Azerbaijan ranked in top 5 excursion tour destination in National Geographic Traveler Awards 2019, an annual traveler award held by National Geographic Traveler magazine.
Earlier this month, Lufthansa, the leading German carrier and the second largest airline in Europe, declared Baku the “City of the Month”.
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