EU Ambassador: "It's very expensive to go on holiday in Azerbaijan ..."

Baku/05.29.18/Turan: The State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan has published the latest data on the tourism sector. Since the beginning of this year, more than 630,000 foreigners from 151 countries have visited our country. In comparison with the same period last year, the growth was by 12.4%.

Judging by the geographical structure of visitors, 27.4% of tourists come from Russia, 22.1% from Georgia, 15.8% from Iran, 11.6% from Turkey, 4.7% from the United Arab Emirates, and 1.9% from Ukraine , 1.8% - Iraq, 14.6% - citizens of other countries and 0.1% - stateless persons.

A significant increase in tourists is observed from the Persian Gulf region. Compared with the same period in 2017, over the first quarter of 2018, the number of travelers from Kuwait grew 7.1 times, from Bahrain and Qatar - by 2.7 times, Saudi Arabia by 2.4 times, Oman - by 1, 9 by times, Iraq - 1.7 times, and from the UAE - by 1.3 times. The number of tourists from Iran decreased by 6.4%, which is due to the economic situation in the neighboring country, experts say.

However, not everything is so radiant and positive: according to official data, the flow of tourists from Europe continues to decline. During the reporting period, only 18,600 Europeans visited Azerbaijan, which accounts for 2.3% of the total number of tourists. For comparison: over the mentioned time our country have visited more than 204 thousand citizens from the CIS.

What is the reason for such a sharp skew in the structure of tourists coming to our hospitable republic? Why do the people of the Old World so stubbornly bypass Azerbaijan, preferring to spend their holidays in Spain, Turkey?

Ambassador of the European Union to Azerbaijan Kestutis Jankauskas in an interview with the CBC television channel, expertly analyzed the situation in the tourism industry of our country, pointed to the main problems hampering development in this area.

"2.3% of European tourists who have visited Baku, this is a very small figure. To attract Europeans, first of all, it is necessary to change the tariff policy in this area. There are no cheap flights from the EU to Baku. There are no low-budget tours for European families, a significant part of which are pensioners. For them a week rest here 2-2.5 thousand euros is expensive. Therefore, it is necessary to attract more investors to the tourist business for the construction of two-star and three-star hotels. After all, the tourist comes to Baku to get acquainted with the sights of the city, the national cuisine, and not to watch TV channels in the hotel room. The current service in Azerbaijan is very expensive for the average European," Kestutis Jankauskas noted.

This idea continued in the conversation with Turan Bahadur Bilalov, the head of the tourism business department of the Azerbaijan University of Tourism and Management. According to him, one of the main factors for a tourist when choosing a holiday route is the prices for services. In this regard, Azerbaijan is still losing hopelessly to Turkey and Georgia. Therefore, for many families of their Europe and the CIS, a tourist visit to Baku is an expensive undertaking.

"The other day I saw interesting information. The international service for the search and booking of airline tickets with the name Skyscanner has carried out research. It turned out that two weeks of rest for two people in Baku will cost Russians $1602. One man per day accounts for almost 100 manats, which is twice as expensive as in Tbilisi. Rest in the regions of the country is also worth a lot. Consequently, Azerbaijan cannot be attributed to budgetary directions of tourism, "Bilalov points out.

But we must take into account that competition in the world tourism market is becoming tougher.

In order to withstand this competition, it is necessary to study the experience of rivals, to offer new services at an affordable price, to apply a reasonable, differentiated price policy. The trouble is that, firstly, tourism in our country is seasonal in nature, and secondly, there is a monopoly in this area. These factors negatively affect the situation, entrepreneurs are not going to reduce prices, thinking only about profits. Without changing the strategy of tourism development, creating a real competitive environment, supporting small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, this sphere is doomed to a crisis. If there are no positive changes, both in terms of quality of service, new types of recreation, and the cost of services, foreigners, as well as our fellow citizens will seek alternative recreation options at other resorts and seaside areas.-0-