Tourists spend more money than in previous years

The number of tourists heading to Azerbaijan is growing from year to year, said Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev when visiting a number of cultural sites in ancient region of Azerbaijan, Sheki.

Azerbaijan is a gem between Europe and Asia and a place you will not regret visiting. This amazing country, also called the Land of Fire, is located in the South Caucasus region and has unspoiled natural beauty to complement its unique culture.

Today tourism is developing with high speed in Azerbaijan, with a contribution of 4.5 percent to the national GDP. The country witnesses more than 2 million annual foreign tourist arrivals and thousands of domestic tourism visits.

Speaking of tourists it is impossible to avoid security issues. Garayev said that the security of tourists coming to Azerbaijan ensured by the state authorities.

“Today, the security of tourists in Azerbaijan is provided not only by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, but generally by the state authorities. This issue is under strict control from the entrance of tourists to the country to the exit,” he said.

Garayev emphasized the importance of strengthening control over this field by the government. “The new draft law stipulates strengthening of control on tourism facilities. The implementation will begin after the adoption of this law,” he said.

Now tourism is the sphere that is ready to generate more income to the country. Foreign tourists also bring foreign currency to Azerbaijan.

Bank card transactions of the foreigners arriving in Azerbaijan increased by 93 percent (about $300 million) compared to the same period last year.

The overall turnover of tourism services by Azerbaijan in 2016 was $ 2.8 billion, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

The figure for six months shows an increase in the number of visitors by almost a 25-percent, according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry. The country welcomed 1,199,667 guests in the first six months of the year.

The majority of tourists came from Russia, Arab countries, Georgia, Turkey and Iran.

About 2,000 tools of the Neolithic period (about the 8th 3rd millennia BC) were discovered during archaeological excavations on the territory of the State Historical-Cultural Reserve Avey in the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan.

Samples of the findings – stone tools, pointed tools, scrapers, flint flakes, lithic cores have been sent to a specialized laboratory in Japan for study, Azertac reports.

Yoshihiro Nishiaki, the head of a group of Japanese archaeologists working within the international expedition in Avey, said that currently excavations are carried out in the Damjili cave. The cave, opened in 1953 by Azerbaijani scientist Mahammadali Huseynov, is the first monument of the Stone Age discovered in Azerbaijan.

“The cave is multi-level, and people lived here in certain periods. It has similarities with the ancient settlement of Goytepe of the Neolithic period, which is located in the neighboring Tovuz region of Azerbaijan. But probably Damjili is a more ancient settlement,” Nishiaki told reporters.

Avey Director Saadat Alieva said that the artifacts discovered during excavations will be exhibited in a museum under the open sky on the territory of the reserve.

The international expedition carries out excavations in the Avey reserve based on a five-year agreement signed between the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Tokyo University Museum and the reserve.

Damjili is the largest of the 30 caves of the Stone Age discovered on the territory of the reserve in mid 1950s. Located at the foot of mount Avey, the cave has a semicircular shape. Its area is about 460 square meters and the height is four meters. The tools found in the cave prove the existence of life and continuous human activity there.