Shahdag Ready for Winter Tourism Season

  17 December 2023    Read: 6619
Shahdag Ready for Winter Tourism Season

Shahdag Mountain Resort has announced the opening of the winter season. Some 32 km away from Gusar, at a height of 1,435-2,552 m above sea level, Shahdag Resort is a tourism complex, offering a wide range of opportunities for amateurs and professionals alike in mountain skiing and other winter sports in Azerbaijan.

Operating under the State Tourism Agency, the resort welcomes local and foreign visitors throughout the year, offering them accommodation, skiing facilities, and entertainment suitable for a variety of age groups.

The Welcome Plaza at the very entrance of the resort with a 363-slot car park is the central hub for tourist reception, information desk and orientation.

The progressive infrastructure, reconstruction and restoration works so far include 12 cable ways, 5 conveyor belt roads for beginners, 30-km 28 slopes of various difficulty levels, skiing school, 30 catering facilities, 5 hotels, and various outdoor and indoor entertainment. There are now 488 snowmaking machines instead of the previous 449 for continuous snow provision at the ski slopes. A special 1,800-meter new slope has been launched to hold various international ski competitions.

A new car park has been built on the Gondola Café territories to eliminate traffic congestion. The water running down slopes is now collected and used as technical waters and 2,500 news trees have been planted for a greener landscape.

The novelties at the resort include new lakes for swimming in summer and snowmaking in winter, heating in the lake for a more comfortable swim, more rented facilities with 9 new tenants, and a variety of new summer entertainments.

The resort management has been sending staff to different hospitality training courses throughout the year to improve the quality of tourism services rendered to guests. 

Operating throughout the year with its large territories, modern infrastructure, and professional staff, Shahdag Mountain Resort offers its guests a variety of exciting entertainments to ensure an unforgettable and exciting stay. These include a pedestrian cableway, skiing, quad bikes for adults and children, a zipline, paragliding from different heights, Shahdag Rollercoaster, various other attractions, including Park Cinema, bowling, and game machines for children at the Main Plaza.

Two 5-star, 1 4-star, 1 3-star and 1 apart-hotel, spa centers and ski rentals are available for the guests. This year’s major innovation at Shahdag was the commissioning of a lake, built with special attention to cleanliness and safety. The lake is intended for swimming and catamaran rides, both having their own separate sections, and has been available since summer.

Shahdag Mountain Resort has hosted 4 sports competitions, 2 festivals and 6 media trips for local and foreign visitors, partners, and bloggers for a more memorable stay and unforgettable holiday experience in 2023. The resort has also participated in 10 international tourism exhibitions and 3 international events. There were also 2 more extensive media tours for local journalists.

The State Tourism Agency, Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Olympic Committee and the Winter Sports Federation came together to organize an amateur mountain skiing tournament for both adults and children of various age groups to celebrate the centennial of the National Leader Heydar Aliev. The aim of the event was to promote winter sports in the country and boost interest among people in them. The winners were awarded various gifts and medals. A flashmob was also held to celebrate the centennial of the National Leader. The resort also hosted a mogul freestyle skiing masterclass organized with the support of the Japanese Embassy in Azerbaijan. The event included a workshop for trainers at Shahdag and amateur skiers on the intricacies of the sport and a demonstration of various extreme tricks. Red Bull and Race.az, who are famous for organizing exciting sports competitions, hosted their Red Bull Qaçaqaç and Shahdag Running Festival at the resort. Shahdag Mountain Resort and Motorcycle Clubs Union of Azerbaijan came together to host the Shahdag Motorcycle Festival.

Shahdag Mountain Resort, ever contributing to the development of winter sports in Azerbaijan, training local athletes for these sports, and shaping the national team, came together with the Winter Sports Federation to host training camps for sportsmen, representing Azerbaijan in international mountaineering competitions.

One of the values at the Resort is giving back to the society, which is why the Shahdag Mountain Resort launched the ‘My Father is a Hero, My Son is a Hero’ campaign and hosted a two-day event for family members of soldiers, martyred in the Patriotic War. About a hundred children and family members of martyrs from Baku and Gusar were invited to the resort for a two-day trip, where they rode on the cable ways and attractions, tried out the entertainment facilities at the resort, played interesting games, listened to a concert, and even learnt how to ski.

The Resort also hosted an introduction trip at its territories for the family members of around 700 employees from Baku, Guba, Gusar, and Khachmaz, where they were able to use various entertainment services.

In celebration of the centennial of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev, a group of employees at the resort organized a march to the Heydar Peak named after the great leader and located at 3,751 meters above sea level, where they commemorated the Great Leader and raised our national flag.

One of the focus points of this past year at the Shahdag Mountain Resort was marketing and promotion in international markets. Team members of the resort participated in tourism exhibitions in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Austria, Israel, Britain, Qatar, India, and several other countries, where they introduced the opportunities at the resort before an international audience. The resort also hosted information tours for bloggers and local and foreign tour operators, where they were introduced to the activities and innovations at the resort, tourism products it has to offer and try both winter and summer entertainment varieties. The participants of the tour had the chance to explore the hotel and accommodation facilities and the range of rendered services.

Shahdag Mountain Resort has also held numerous meetings aimed at shaping and deepening cooperation with neighbouring states. The goal is to expand access to global tourism markets. The resort representatives attended the Tourism Fair in Sochi, Russia, and Tashkent International Tourism Fair in the capital of Uzbekistan, where they discussed cooperation with mountain resorts in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, and prospects for building single Eurasian Mountain routes, and exchanged views on joint projects. These negotiations have led to a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the Shahdag Mountain Resort and Eurasian Alliance of Mountain Resorts, thus Shahdag was elected a member of the Alliance.

The Shahdag Resort paid special attention to participating in job fairs in Baku, Guba, Gusar, and Khachmaz in 2013 and provided up to 50 people with jobs at the resort to support employment in the regions.

The Resort also kept the wider audience up to date with the processes and novelties at its territories through information agencies and television channels by shaping active relations with various mass media outlets. They have organized trips for local media representatives to celebrate the openings of summer and winter seasons.

Shahdag Mountain Resort operates to achieve positive dynamics in the number of local and foreign visitors, boost customer satisfaction, intensify domestic and foreign promotion, develop new products, and be widely recognized as a tourist resort that operates throughout the year, not only in winter.

Sabina Hasanova 

Azvision English


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