Azerbaijan keen to develop winter tourism in Karabakh and Nakhchivan Review by Caliber.Az

About ten years ago a new trend emerged in the recreational sector of Azerbaijan - winter tourism. A good opportunity for winter recreation in the country appeared with the construction of mountain ski resorts in the Gusar and Gabala regions - Shahdag and Tufandag. Moreover, today the country is studying the prospects of building new ski bases in the Karabakh region, as well as in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR). In the past two years, the coronavirus pandemic and the global recession have reduced attendance at domestic mountain resorts, but a positive trend is expected in the new season. In particular, a favorable situation is evidenced by data from the Russian agency TourStat: Azerbaijan ranked second in the top five CIS countries for winter tourism.

Historically, in contrast to its closest neighbours in the region (Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and, in recent years, Türkiye) the mountainous regions of Azerbaijan lacked the necessary infrastructure for winter tourism services, in particular skiing. This inexcusable lag was overcome only by December 2012, when the cableway and ski slopes of Azerbaijan's first summer and winter tourist complex Shahdag were put into operation. Located 32 kilometres from Gusar city, occupying more than two thousand hectares, with ski tracks at an altitude of 1500-2500 meters above sea level, the ski complex was equipped with several ski lifts, 18 tracks, and slopes for snowboarding. Fans of other activities could also take advantage of the Jet Ski, quad biking, tandem paragliding, ziplining, rent sledges for children, or skates for the ice field, with a total of 15 types of winter entertainment. The work has been continued in the following period, in particular, the "roller coaster" with a height of 2590 meters was put into operation early this year, and several guest houses were built in the village of Aladag, situated three kilometres from Shahdag, to support low-cost winter tourism.

In the years preceding the pandemic, the Gusar zone became popular with numerous foreign visitors, and thanks to the devaluation of the national currency in 2015, holidays in Azerbaijan, in terms of dollars and euros, became more than twice as cheap, which had a positive effect on ski resort attendance by foreigners. In particular, during the winter seasons of 2017-2019, the level of visits to the ski resort rose to an average of 110-120 thousand people. Moreover, about half of the guests were foreigners, with tourists from the UAE and Russia dominating, as well as from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UK.

Another ski resort, Tufandag, which opened in January 2014, with a daily capacity of around three thousand people, has also been developing very successfully. The ten-lane ski slope has a total length of 17 kilometres, with three red, three black, and four blue lanes. There are also three gondolas and one telemix chair lift, located between 950 and 1920 metres above sea level.

Overall, according to the estimates of numerous guests and experts, both Azerbaijani winter resorts were close to the Swiss, German, and Austrian ski bases in terms of their infrastructure and variety of services.

Unfortunately, the pandemic and subsequent economic crisis caused a global recession in the recreational sector, and restrictions on passenger air travel also affected Azerbaijan, including collapsing winter tourism figures in 2020. In terms of attracting foreign visitors, the winter seasons of 2021 and 2022 were also unsuccessful - overall, visits to winter resorts at the peak of the crisis decreased almost fivefold compared to the pre-pandemic period.

However, there is every reason to believe that this winter's attendance figures for domestic ski resorts will show a steady increase. In particular, this is confirmed by data released the day before by Russia's leading analytical agency TourStat: in the top five most popular and attractive countries for winter tourism and recreation in CIS countries, Azerbaijan ranked second, after Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Armenia are next in the ranking of popular winter holiday destinations. Compiling the ranking table, TourStat experts based on the popularity of tourist destinations and the development of winter infrastructure for sports recreation in post-Soviet countries. In Azerbaijan, for example, the capital city of Baku, the picturesque town of Sheki, and the health resort of Naftalan attract most tourists in winter, but the ski resorts in the Gusar and Gabala districts are of course of primary interest.

A number of factors have had a tangible impact on the growing popularity of Azerbaijani winter tourist resorts. Firstly, the sanctions imposed on Russia and, to some extent, Belarus as a result of the war in Ukraine have deprived tourists of these countries of the opportunity to visit European ski resorts, and, consequently, solvent demand has reoriented towards the CIS countries, including Azerbaijan. Second, amid the energy and food crises, the cost of air travel and accommodation in the well-known winter resorts of the Alpine states and other regions of Europe increased manifold. In this regard, Azerbaijan's winter resorts have improved their competitiveness, particularly for visitors from southern states (the Persian Gulf countries, Iran, Pakistan, and India), where geography and climate have limited conditions for the development of skiing and other winter leisure activities. Finally, this year tourist relations with Israel have been considerably strengthened, in particular, work has started to increase the flow of Israeli tourists to our country's ski resorts.

At the same time, Azerbaijan has to work hard to optimize service and reduce prices, as our country is often inferior to the winter resorts of Türkiye and especially Georgia in terms of these parameters. In particular, there are four ski resorts in Georgia: Bakuriani, located near Borjomi, and the relatively new Gudauri, 120 km from Tbilisi, known since the Soviet times, are the most popular. Two other Georgian winter resorts, Mestia and Goderdzi, are also actively developing. Prices in Georgian winter resorts are at least one-third lower than in Azerbaijan: this applies to ski and other equipment rentals, ropeway fees, instructor fees, accommodation, restaurant meals, etc.

In terms of prices, Türkiye's ski resorts can also compete with Azerbaijan: the most popular are Uludag, Sarikamish, Palandoken, and Kartalkaya. One should not neglect Kazakhstan, where there are several ski bases, including the largest ones, Medeo and Shimbulak, with more than 30 ski slopes with a total length of 80 km.

Today, Kazakhstan is implementing a new pricing strategy designed to develop mass tourism, and the country hopes to become a skiing hub for the wider Eurasian region.

Azerbaijan's winter resorts still have an advantage in terms of technical equipment, safety, and level of service. Steps to reduce the average price level and expand the offer in the budget, mass segment are in high demand. The best way to do this is seen as an increase in supply - that is, the creation of new winter tourist centers and ski resorts, including in the Nakhchivan AR, and in the future in the Azerbaijani lands liberated from the Armenian occupation. In order to implement such initiatives the State Agency for Tourism (SAT) has projected a plan for the development of the tourist potential of the NAR until 2024: the first step was the commissioning of the winter tourist centre Agbulag, and it is also planned to actively develop mountain skiing tourism in the Nakhchivan.

The establishment of winter resorts and ski bases on the spurs of the Lesser Caucasus is seen as equally promising. In this regard specialists of the Tourism Bureau of Azerbaijan highlight the potential of the Kalbajar region, as well as Lachin, Shusha, Hadrut, and Tug, areas around Azykh have opportunities for the development of winter tourism.