Azernews.Az

By Rasana Gasimova

The Azerbaijan Tourism Board organized meetings of local tourism companies with those from the United Arab Emirates, India and China on November 18-19.

80 tourism companies represented Azerbaijan at the meeting with the UAE tour operator. During the bilateral discussions, the guests were provided with detailed information on tourism in the country.

It should be noted that the UAE and Azerbaijan enjoy good opportunities for mutual investments, joint implementation of various projects, especially in tourism sector.

The tourist flow between the countries amounted to 112,000 people in January-September 2019.

During the meeting with Indian tour operators, which was attended by 50 local tourism companies, a presentation on the tourism potential of the country was presented. The local opportunities for wedding tourism were particularly discussed, as it presents interest to the Indian tourists.

Each year, Azerbaijan sees an increase in the number of Indian tourists. This inflow even further increased after Azerbaijan presented its tourism potential in a number of Indian cities including Dehli, Bangalore and Mumbai in September 2019.

Chinese tourist companies were also informed about Azerbaijan and its tourism opportunities, existing infrastructure, hotels, national cuisine, tourism routes, and held the B2B (Business-to-Business) format discussions with 60 local tourism companies.

The purpose of the B2B meetings is to bring together representatives of the local tourism and hospitality industry with representatives of tourism companies from all three countries to facilitate bilateral cooperation.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Azerbaijan amounted to 20,000 in January-September 2019. This is a 64 percent increase compared to the same period of 2018.

The official Representative Office of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board opened in Beijing in December 2018.

Representatives of travel companies from all three countries will be visiting regional hotels, tourism and service facilities, as well as historical sites.

Note that since the end of 2018, Azerbaijan's official tourism representation have been operating in Dubai, Mumbai, and Beijing.

Azerbaijan aims to further develop its tourism sector to facilitate the sustainable development of the non-oil sector. The tourist flow to Azerbaijan amounted to 1.78 million people from January to July 2019, which is 7.4 percent higher than in same period in 2018.

Azerbaijan ranked in top 5 excursion tour destination in National Geographic Traveler Awards 2019, an annual traveler award held by National Geographic Traveler magazine.

In October 2019, Lufthansa, the leading German carrier and the second largest airline in Europe, declared Baku the “City of the Month”.

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