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Untapped Potential |
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| By Rafael Abbasov |
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Imagine yourself: fresh air, blue skies and the adventure of discovery are reasons enough to go hiking out in Azerbaijan's countryside. But perhaps the best reason is its welcome escape from the crowded Baku City and terrible workweeks. Out there are broad, serene landscapes seemingly untouched by civilization. You soon find that there's much more to Azerbaijan than just Baku. It's an entirely different world.
When any Azeri high ranking official talks about the development of national economy in particular the non-oil sector he will definitely state that tourism is recognized as one of the priorities of the state economy of Azerbaijan, probably next after paralyzed agriculture. During the past couple of years the country has been facing plenty of serious structural changes primary initiated by the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Tourism. It is a fascinating fact that sometimes the Government officials also used different occasions to promote the Youth, Sports and Tourism ministry's new scheme to monitor the level of tourism in the country. For instance the introduction of the issue of tourist vouchers certified by the Ministry of Justice was fully applauded by all tour agencies, which were required to fill in and provide the vouchers to visitors entering and exiting the country, for the purpose of gauging number of tourists. According to unveiled statistics the vouchers had a spin-off for tourists, as tourists in possession of an official voucher has been able to buy a tourist visa for the reduced price of $20 in contrast to a one-month visa on arrival at Baku Airport for $40.
It is obvious that this process will be fostered by the "Law on Tourism" prepared with the consideration of international standards, Hague declaration on tourism, recommendations of the International Tourism Organization, and the world experience on the development of tourism industry. The Law together with other acts on tourism will ensure the development of this field in Azerbaijan; create a complete national model of tourism industry integrated in the world tourism infrastructure and capable to provide high standard of services.
Agreements on cooperation in the field of tourism have been signed with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Greece, China, France, Islamic Republic of Iran, Romania, Turkey and CIS countries. The agreements provide for coordination of the cooperation among the various administrative bodies in the field, working out joint projects directed in the creation of new kinds of services, training of personnel, exchange of representatives, expert groups as well as literature, organization of exhibitions, congresses, conferences and cultural events, a realization of measures reducing formality regarding tourist exchanges. In this respect the task for preparing a package of documents with representatives of a number of states is being carried out.
Since 1994 the direct contacts have been set up with the foreign tourist companies: 41 agreements and contracts on tourist exchange have been signed. Azerbaijan is a member of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation and International tourist organization "Eurasia".
This historical membership of Azerbaijan in the world arena of tourism is infact the most important cornerstone to broaden this industry internationally and has been proclaimed "open door policy", by the Azerbaijani Government. Basically it is now recognized as economic reforms and democratization of the community, realizing that it will positively enable the Azeri citizens to present themselves as part of the world tourists. "I remember the soviet era when only few "muallims"(respectable people) were famous due to visit abroad"- said Said, the manager of one of the local travel agencies. According to him even now in order to go on a tour to any famous place in foreign countries, the majority of his clients use his services as "chelnoki" (merchandisers) rather than tourists. That is really a pity, because it forces us to serve their business needs basically focusing on Turkey, Iran and a few European countries, - underlined Said. "No emphasis on new world discovery".
According to him "overall, there is a huge potential for the development of tourism in Azerbaijan". One of the main factors that determine tourism development in Azerbaijan, is its favorable geographical situation in the southern latitude. In fact it is only an undiscovered potential of natural and geographic reserves. According to the British Economist Magazine "much of the tourism infrastructure of Azerbaijan dates back to the communist era, is poorly built, and has been largely neglected over the past decade. Similarly, the government-controlled rail, air and road networks have had little investment and upgrading, and remain substandard compared with former communist-bloc countries in central Europe. As a result, the expected growth in tourism receipts over the forecast period will primarily reflect a low base".
"In truth, we are facing a few positive changes in the field of tourism, but in terms of safety and comfort, everything is as always. We are hoping to increase the flow of tourists from Azerbaijan. "It's a field that we have just started to develop", - stated the mana- ger of the world-wide travel agencies located in Baku.
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