Azernews.Az

By Trend

Chinese tourists’ trips to Azerbaijan have been postponed indefinitely, Member of the Council of Experts of the Association of Travel Agencies of Azerbaijan Kanan Hanifayev told Trend.

Hanifayev noted that due to the cancellation of these tours, the reservations of travel agencies for February and March were canceled or postponed.

The council member emphasized that this is detrimental to Azerbaijani tourism.

“Trips of local tourists to China have also been suspended, and the flights have been postponed,” said Hanifayev. “Our tourists, who have previously planned trips, return tour packages. AZAL and China Airlines return air tickets without penalties.”

The council member added that the spread of coronavirus had a negative impact on the Chinese tourism market.

“The number of tourists coming to China has decreased by almost 90 percent,” Hanifayev noted. “This is directly related to the coronavirus. The epidemic will also have a significant negative effect on the country’s economy. Tourism, logistics and trade spheres will suffer major damage.”

The council member added that according to forecasts, the process of complete neutralization of coronavirus can be continued until mid-March.

“We hope that there will be progress in the fight against the virus very soon and tourists will be able to travel safely to any country,” said Hanifayev.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. Since then over 560 people have died and over 28,000 people have been confirmed as infected. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.

The symptoms include cough, headache, fatigue, fever, aching and difficulty breathing. It is primarily spread through airborne contact or contact with contaminated objects.

Chinese health authorities say that the majority of the people who have died were either elderly or had underlying health problems.

Aside from Mainland China, the cases of coronavirus spreading have also been confirmed in Japan, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany, the US, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Macau, France, Canada, the UAE, India, Italy, Russia, Philippines, the UK, Nepal, Cambodia, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Sweden and Sri Lanka.

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