Expert talks putting Azerbaijan's domestic tourism back on its feet

By Trend

To resume domestic tourism in Azerbaijan, the buses of travel companies should be allowed to leave Baku on weekends, tourism expert Fariz Hajiyev told Trend.

“Following the recent significant softening of quarantine rules, communication between Baku and the districts has been restored. However, since the ban on passenger transportation remains in force, minibuses and buses are prohibited from leaving Baku. This, in turn, is a serious obstacle to the resumption of domestic tours,” the expert said.

“There are enough people who travel to the districts in private cars. People who regularly travel in groups don’t benefit from the current situation because individual travel is expensive and individual tours aren’t as fun as group tours. I propose to allow buses to leave Baku on weekends only for excursions by travel companies,” said Hajiyev.

The expert added that all the sanitary and hygienic norms and rules in this regard were developed and approved by the State Tourism Agency a few months ago.

“Unlike public transport in Baku, tourist buses should be allowed to be filled only by 50 percent, which means a safer journey for everyone,” said Hajiyev.

When passing the posts, the official travel document of the company will indicate the list of tour participants, the hotel to which they will go and the period of the tour, he said.

“This can help avoid tax evasion by some businessmen. At the same time, in some cases tours are organized by persons who don’t have official registration. In most cases, massive complaints are associated with them. Organization of tours with the provision of certain official documents means that this issue will be solved,” said the agency.

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