Arab investors interested in local hotel business
AHowever, no facts of buying hotels in Azerbaijan have been observed so far, according to the chairman of the association.
“We do not have information about the sale of Azerbaijani hotels to Arab investors, they are interested in this sector. Last year, we were approached by investors from Saudi Arabia, mainly interested in economy hotel segment - two and three star hotels. However, no agreement was reached for unknown reasons,” Dubendi told Trend.
He stressed that at the moment no hotels owned by Arab investors have been registered in Azerbaijan.
“Currently, the Association is compiling a register of tourist accommodation facilities, which, among other things, collects information about their owners and managers. We have already completed work on the hotels located in Baku and now we carry out work in the regions of Azerbaijan. I want to say that at the moment we did not meet hotels belonging to or run by Arabs. Of course, this does not include hotels belonging to famous hotel chains.”
Dubendi also noted that at present there is no need to attract Arab investments in the hotel business.
“We are not in favor of selling our hotels to Arabs. This is not necessary, as today a large number of professionals have been formed in Azerbaijan, so we will rely more on local cadres,” said the chairman of the Association.
Baku streets, restaurants and hotels are full of crowds of Arab citizens, who are delighted with the wonderful weather, the food and the beauty of the country. Not only the capital city of Azerbaijan, but also its regions saw a record number of Gulf tourists last year.
One of the main reasons for the rising number of Arab tourists is the introduction of a simplified visa regime from this year for citizens of Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and other countries.
Experts say that there are different reasons attracting Arab tourists in Azerbaijan including beautiful nature, halal foods in restaurants, direct flights as well as short distance between the countries. Another reason causing the increasing influx of arab tourists is the stability and safety present in Azerbaijan.
As for statistics for the year 2017, there were 4.5 times more tourists from Saudi Arabia, 7.4 times more from Oman, 1.9 times – from the UAE compared to 2016.
As for the tourism infrastructure, today Azerbaijan can accommodate about 40,000 tourists in its 575 hotels, which include a series of luxury ones – Excelsior, Hilton, Four Seasons, Fairmont, JW Marriott – as well as several budget hotels for cost-conscious travelers. Moreover, 25 hostels and 92 apartments for tourists operate in Baku.
Furthermore, the state plans to increase the number of hotels complying with halal standards in Azerbaijan due to the considerable growth in the number of newly built hotels. In the hotels operating in halal standards, there are no alcoholic beverages are allowed while food is prepared in halal standards.