Tourist information centers to modify activities

Serious changes in the activities of Azerbaijan’s regional tourist information centers are expected soon, Fuad Nagiyev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency, said at a meeting of the Agency on July 3.

These centers will provide services to tourists through more innovative, creative and modern methods, he said.

Nagiyev noted that every tourist should be able to get the necessary information in all regions, and there should be an address where they can send their wishes and complaints. At the same time, one of the issues facing the State Tourism Agency is to increase the role of tourist information centers in promoting the tourism potential of Azerbaijani regions.

During the meeting, there was an acquaintance with the heads of regional tourist information centers. The heads of 11 tourist information centers located in Baku and the regions spoke about the direction of their activities, current situation, existing problems and difficulties.

Within the next month, representatives of the State Tourism Agency will organize trips to information centers in the regions, assess their activities and prepare appropriate reports.

Presently, Azerbaijan is engaged in the efforts to diversify the non-oil economy, and tourism industry is one of the promising sectors to contribute to the achievement of this ambitious goal. Tourism in Azerbaijan is developing rapidly, since the government carries out comprehensive activities to support the flow of foreign visitors.

In 2017, about 2.69 million tourists visited Azerbaijan, which is 20 percent more than the indicator of 2016. Majority of the tourists came from Russia, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, the UAE and other countries.

It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan has improved its tourism performance in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 prepared by experts of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The country is placed 71st among the most improved countries, thus rising 13 spots in the global ranking.