New impetus given to tourism cooperation with Russia

The signing of the agreement on cooperation in tourism between Azerbaijan and Russia will give an impetus to further rapprochement between the two countries in this area, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) Nahid Bagirov told Trend on September 3.

The chairman of AzTA noted that Russia is an interesting market for Azerbaijan in terms of tourism.

“Russia has always been an attractive tourism market for Azerbaijan,” Bagirov said.

He noted that for further development of tourism relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, it is necessary to increase the advertising of Azerbaijan as a tourism destination not only in Moscow, but also in the regions of Russia.

“Russia is a big country with a significant number of population. Therefore, it is necessary to actively promote the tourism potential of Azerbaijan in Russia, in particular in its regions. It is also necessary to develop direct airline service between the regions of Russia and Azerbaijan. But before that, it is necessary to conduct good advertising, study the market and analyze the interest,” Bagirov said.

A ceremony of signing documents with participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin took place in Sochi on September 1. In particular, agreement between the governments of the two states on cooperation in tourism was signed.

Tourism is developing at an unprecedented rate in Azerbaijan, which in recent years turned into a country attracting foreign guests from the farthest corners of the world.

The statistical data shows that in January-July 2018, about 1.6 million foreigners and stateless persons from 191 countries of the world arrived in Azerbaijan, which is 9.1 percent more compared to the same period of 2017. Of the total number of arrivals, 31.5 percent accounts for Russian citizens, which is quite a big number.

Azerbaijan was on the 15th place in the TOP-20 countries Russian tourists are eager to visit in 2018.

There are several reasons why Russian tourists choose to head to Azerbaijan for their vacation. Tourists are attracted to the quality of the hotel basis, the richness of excursion programs and the development of sanitary and spa complex, for example Naftalan. Most tourists believe that the hotel base in Azerbaijan does not fall behind with Europe.