Azerbaijani tourists left nearly $ 3 billion abroad

Travel costs Azerbaijanis abroad over the past five years have grown by almost 8 times.

According to official statistics, last year, residents of Azerbaijan abroad tourist services rendered in the amount of $ 2.9 billion, which is 16.6% more than in 2012, and 8 times higher than five years ago. Meanwhile 62.3% or 1.81 billion dollars are spent by citizens during private trips abroad.

In 2013, foreign tourists in Azerbaijan spent $ 2.4 billion, of which 36.6% were expenses incurred during business trips to Azerbaijan. As a result, the negative balance of tourist services has reached half a billion dollars.

Today in Azerbaijan state program of development of tourism, covering the years 2008-2016. The state spends millions of dollars on advertising Azerbaijan, development of tourism infrastructure. And yet people prefer to rest abroad. The main flow of Azerbaijani tourists is meanwhile sent to Turkey. The following places are occupied by Russia, Georgia, Ukraine (Crimean Peninsula), UAE (Dubai).

Azerbaijanis often go on holiday abroad because of the high cost of travel services at home. So within the country the cost of a normal seven day stay for one person can reach 1,000 AZN. In Turkey, for the same price within 7 days in Antalya, a European level of service is proposed, all inclusive (flight, transfer to hotel, meals). Another factor repulsive is the low level of the service. This is mostly spread outside of Baku.

For the development of tourism in Azerbaijan, according to market participants, it is necessary to use an incentive policy that would include the abolition of VAT for travel to recreation areas and holiday centers in the regions within for 5 years. Due to the seasonal nature of the tourist regions in the rendered services considered appropriate to reduce income tax for permanent employees working in travel agencies, hotels and recreation centers. Also proposed an exemption from customs duties and taxes most equipment used for tourism purposes. But most importantly workers of the travel industry dream to get rid of irrelevant checks and extortion by various government agencies.

Tourism is one of the most profitable and dynamic sectors of the world economy. In many countries, tourism is the main source of foreign exchange earnings. Travel and rest cover 2/3 of the entire tourist trips. In developed countries, more than 70% of the tours account for travel within the country. - 15B -