‘ The pandemic has had a great impact on the global economy and tourism is no exception. The UN reports that the global economy has lost trillions of dollars. Around 400 million people have lost theirjobs.’

Ruslan Guliyev, Head of the Millennium Tourism & Congress DMC, founder at Azerbaijan Health and Thermal Tourism Support Association shared his views in his interview to Vzglyad.az.

The world economy is restored in stages, he says.

‘65% of employees in this industry are people under 25. Women make up around the same percentage. Leading managers have left this area for related fields, which has decreased the management coefficient in the tourism sector. Azerbaijan has not been able to avoid the process as well.

We began restoring tourism in 2022 and we hope to see positive statistics by the end of the year. We must also consider the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. We need to realize that every crisis implies new opportunities. The ongoing tourism reforms in Azerbaijan and launching various logistics routes will become a new impetus to develop tourism.

The fact that the land borders remain shut greatly hinders the development of tourism. As the borders with Georgia stay closed, tourism development among Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey suffers greatly. The modern day global trend pursues low-cost airlines and various products for domestic traveling. We must expand marketing opportunities in this direction, as it will affect the overall tourism potential of Azerbaijan,’ Guliyev elaborated.

The head of the Millennium Tourism & Congress DMC believes that expansion of ties with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan will also include tourism.

‘Caspian countries have been discussing cooperation in cruise tourism over the past ten years. Promoting this direction will allow offering various products and mutual tourist flow. COVID restrictions have posed problems for logistics, which in turn have had a serious impact on prices.

However, as Azerbaijan participates in the Great Silk Road project, we can also start interacting with countries along the route. Restoring and developing tourism requires coordinating efforts, building digital platforms to promote tourism potential and growing services in this area. Restorations in Karabakh and East Zangazur will consequently allow developing new tourist routes, particularly for citizens of neighboring countries. This will influence transit tourism. We must continue developing this field in order to reach our ambition of raising 5 million tourists a year by 2024,’ Guliyev concluded.

Samir Veliyev

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