Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan moves confidently to expand activities in the tourism sphere by promoting its tourism opportunities.

The 18th Azerbaijan International Travel & Tourism Fair (AITF 2019) opened its doors for visitors in Baku on April 4.

The exhibition, which will last until April 6, brings together representatives of the tourism market from various countries, as well as national and regional tourism organizations and government agencies.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Chairman of the State Tourism Agency Fuad Naghiyev gave information on launch of new tourism representative offices abroad.

“Tourism is one of the priority areas of the country's economy. Since the end of last year, Azerbaijan’s permanent tourist offices are operating in 6 cities - Frankfurt (Germany), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Beijing (China), Mumbai (India), Moscow (Russia). At the same time, it is planned to open permanent tourism offices of Azerbaijan in the UK, France, Iran and South Korea,” he said.

“Measures implemented in the marketing sphere will bear fruit along with country’s new tourism brand. The number of tourists visiting our country increased by 153,000 people last year compared with 2017, that is, by 6 percent reaching 2.8 million. In the two months of this year, 364,000 foreign visitors arrived in our country. Increasing tourist flow from year to year, meeting the needs of tourists also included in the list of our main tasks,” stressed Naghiyev.

Tourism offices in foreign countries aim to introduce Azerbaijan's tourism opportunities, conduct propaganda and campaigning.

The representations will operate in areas such as promotion of tourism potential of Azerbaijan and the region in which they operate, marketing research, preparation of reports, publication of propaganda materials and conducting trainings.

Organization of official tourism representations will also serve to organize seminars on Azerbaijan, as well as meetings for cooperation of tourism and travel companies in regions and Azerbaijan, support Azerbaijan's participation in international exhibitions and coordinate activities to stimulate bilateral relations.

In the modern world, tourism is one of the most dynamically developing and profitable sectors of the economy for each country. Therefore, Azerbaijan aims to develop this sphere by all possible means. Sustainable development of the non-oil sector, in particular the tourism sector, is crucial at a time when it is impossible to fully rely on oil and gas industry.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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