Natig Jafarli: Officials Trying to Regain Control of Tourism Sector to State by Any Means

Baku / 08.28.19 / Turan: Recently, persons in charge of the tourism sector have been actively promoting for returning control over this business to them.

This time, the head of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association Nahid Bagirov distinguished himself - he announced an increase in complaints from tourists about different companies.

According to him, the state"s refusal to regulate this sector creates supposedly serious problems for tourists, which negatively affects the tourist image.

Commenting on this statement, economist Natig Jafarli noted that state regulation of the tourism sector is nonsense in the world.

"Such statements are voiced in order to return regulation to the state. This is unacceptable. The state may have a ministry or a tourism agency, but they should deal with the overall strategy of the sector, rather than manage it. The officials representing the state want to become managers and bosses of the realm," he said.

According to the expert, the tourism sector in Azerbaijan has not yet turned into a public sphere.

"In the tourism sector or sectors close to it, only 23 thousand people are involved, which does not even make up 1% of the population. In Georgia, this figure is 27-28%. In Turkey, 7-8 million people are involved in the tourism sector in the season, which has allowed this country to become one of the leaders in the world in a short time," N. Jafarli emphasized.

He believes that individual officials want to take control of the entire sector.

At the same time, N. Jafarli noted that the problem in Azerbaijan is that elite tourism is preferred in the country, which is attractive in appearance, but actually hinders the development of the entire sector.

"We can count the number of hostels on the fingers of a hand, while in the very same Tbilisi there are a lot of them. It is this approach to turn the tourism sector into a popular one. But, unfortunately, those responsible for this sector think only of any ways to return the regulation of the sector to themselves," N. Jafarli concluded. -71B-