Karabakh region to turn into Azerbaijan's leading tourist destination Anaysis by Caliber.Az

Azerbaijan is among the states of the post-Soviet region where steady progress has been made in the post-pandemic recovery of tourism: in January-July 2022, a 2.3-fold increase in the number of foreign visitors was noted. Nevertheless, the current figures are far from the record levels of 2019, when 3.2 million foreign tourists visited the country. Today, therefore, Azerbaijan's relevant agencies are fully expanding the promotion and advertising of the country's recreational opportunities, including the potential of the Karabakh region.

In this regard, cooperation with international organisations - the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the WB, and the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) is being strengthened to attract investment and know-how, and improve educational opportunities in the field of tourism. Last Wednesday, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov held a series of meetings during an official visit to Spain during which Baku and Madrid outlined broad prospects of cooperation between the two countries. Among other things, they discussed the prospects of cooperation in the recreational sector: the interest of Spanish companies and the EU business community in general in investing in the tourism sector of Azerbaijan was noted. The Azerbaijani FM presented the possibilities for cooperation in Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions, which have unique tourism potential. During his visit to Spain, Bayramov also had a very productive meeting with Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Throughout the post-pandemic period, UNWTO experts repeatedly supported Azerbaijan's efforts to overcome the protracted crisis. In particular, during a visit to Baku in April, UN Chief Zurab Pololikashvili hailed the level of development of the recreational infrastructure in Azerbaijan, as well as the work of the AzerbaijanState Tourism Agency (ASTA) to expand tourism opportunities both at the domestic and regional levels. Now in Madrid, UNWTO's readiness to implement joint projects in our country, in particular the organization of conferences and forums, joint programs with the ASTA, and other relevant structures, was reaffirmed. All these undertakings are aimed at expanding educational and training opportunities in the tourism sector, as well as implementing of innovations in this area. Prospects for the development of tourism in the liberated territories of the country were also discussed during the talks of the Azerbaijani minister.

Today, expansion of cooperation with UNWTO, as well as other international organisations is becoming the basic direction for the formation of new tourist destinations, and the promotion, and advertising of Azerbaijan's recreational products on the world level. The talks held recently between ASTA and representatives of the World Bank (WB) were demonstrative in this regard. In particular, in prospect, it is planned to implement joint projects with the WB in the sphere of tourism education, development of regional tourism, the attraction of investments in this area as well as initiatives on the preservation of historical and cultural heritage. The WB specialists are ready to provide Azerbaijan with expert assistance in improving the legal and institutional framework in order to create an attractive environment for the tourism business and are already involved in projects in Baku and Sheki, aimed at preserving the cultural heritage.

Boosting cooperation with international agencies to develop tourism is crucial for Azerbaijan today: the country needs to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in the industry as soon as possible and increase the flow of tourists into the country to the indicators of the prosperous year of 2019. Moreover, as part of the Social and Economic Development Strategy for 2022-2026, it is planned to increase the share of tourism in Azerbaijan's non-oil GDP, and the share of revenues from tourism should grow by an additional 20 per cent.

This is to be achieved through the promotion of domestic and foreign tourism during the off-season, including the development of balneotherapy resorts providing services to foreign nationals as part of medical tourism. Also, measures on simplification of visa legislation, and increase of the share of low-cost airlines are outlined, as the key objective of the strategy is an increase in inbound tourism, for which a number of measures to promote of country's potential at the international level are to be implemented. In this respect, Azerbaijan also needs the support of authoritative international organisations, including the promotion of the country's recreational potential at international exhibitions and specialised forums, demonstrating tourism opportunities in the Karabakh region, and attracting potential investors.

The most important trend is to raise the level of service of local hotels and the training of local staff to the best world standards. The implementation of advanced practices seems optimal here, for which the State Tourism Committee and the Tourism Bureau of Azerbaijan intend to actively use the experience of international organizations, including the UNWTO. For example, to use the UN profile structure to promote our country's recreational potential at international exhibitions and specialised forums, to promote products and tours of local tourism companies, demonstrating, in particular, the tourism potential of the Karabakh region, and with the support of the WB to conduct appropriate work with potential investors.

Cooperation with member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which shows genuine interest in the development of Azerbaijan's recreational sphere in the long term, is seen as a landmark in this regard. In particular, such plans were discussed at the 11th session of OIC tourism ministers in Baku at the end of June this year. Among the directions for joint projects with OIC countries, the most promising is the participation of Islamic countries in the revival of the Karabakh region and its transformation into a leading tourist destination in Azerbaijan. This interest is expressed both in terms of new opportunities for the expansion of tourism flows from Islamic countries, and in terms of future investment cooperation - investment in hotel and resort business in the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions. Such negotiations are already underway with the business communities of Türkiye, Pakistan, Arab Gulf states, and a number of South Asian countries.

Along with increasing contacts with OIC countries Azerbaijan also actively promotes cooperation with the Organisation of Turkic States in the context of the expansion of tourism relations: only in recent months, a number of memorandums and agreements were signed with Türkiye, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, aimed at boosting of air communication, cooperation of travel agencies in order to promote joint tourism products, and most importantly joint investment initiatives in the recreational sector.

"Quite promising direction is seen in the development of "Silk Road" tourist route, creation of tourist products jointly with member countries of Organisation of the Turkic States, which contributes to the tangible expansion of tourism exchange," Chairman of ASTA Fuad Nagiyev noted recently. He stressed that the Karabakh region will soon become another major regional tourism destination. It is noteworthy that in March the city of Shusha was chosen as the "Cultural Capital of the Turkic World" in 2023. These decisions not only contribute to further strengthening ties between the Turkic countries but will also have a direct impact on increasing tourist traffic to our country.