sporting - Leisure Opportunities

BIG
ambitions
FUELLING GROWTH
As one of the world’s largest oil producers, Azerbaijan has both wealth
and ambition. Professor Terry Stevens investigates its tourism potential,
the luxury developers targeting its capital and the 2020 Olympic Bid
he charge into the
Caucasus by international
hotels brands is heavily
focused on Baku, the T
capital of Azerbaijan on the southern
shore of the Absheron Peninsula. The
city is attracting the attention of Hyatt,
Hilton, Fairmont, Marriott, Kempinski,
Four Seasons and Starwood Hotels &
Resorts – all of which are being drawn
to this dynamic boomtown, where
sparkling limousines and skyscrapers
form the backdrop to an ancient
walled city that’s listed as a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
Baku, which has a population of
around 2 million, has a rich history as
part of a country that has straddled
the territories of competing
Arab, Persian, Turkish and
Russian empires over the
last two millennia. It gained
independence in 1991 following
the fall of the Soviet
Union and today global interest
has been stimulated
by the extensive oil resources underlying
the Caspian Sea, together with
the phenomenon of oil oozing out of
the ground creating natural oil fires
on the peninsula. In 2007 and 2008,
Azerbaijan was the world’s largest oil
producer. Modern living in the city has
flourished, which gives the ancient
metropolis a cosmopolitan feel with a
strong business tourism market.
Tourism is rapidly becoming an
important part of the economy of
Azerbaijan, although accurate statistics
are elusive. Estimates by
PROFESSOR TERRY STEVENS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF STEVENS & ASSOCIATES
American Express suggest that in
2003-2004 the country was hosting
over one million tourist arrivals,
mostly from near neighbour countries.
The UN World Tourism Organization is
currently working with the Azerbaijan’s
Ministry of Culture and Tourism to rectify
the lack of statistics.
FOCUSING ON TOURISM
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism,
established in 1953, is the government
agency that oversees all aspects
of tourism development. Initially
responsible for cultural preservation,
its focus shifted over time to the
development of resorts until the collapse
of the Soviet Union – the Soviet
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is
focused on shaping Azerbaijan into an
elite destination for spa tourism
was a key market – and the Nagorno-
Karabakh civil war in the 1990s which
crippled the fledgling tourism industry.
The sector began to pick up pace
once more in the early 2000s, with the
2002 Mission by the UN World Tourism
Organization which successfully nurtured
and whetted the government’s
appetite for developing international
leisure and business tourism. On the
back of this in 2004, Azerbaijan’s
Citizens Development Corps (CDC) –
under the auspices of the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe
– suggested a Rapid Assessment
Strategy for tourism development.
Over the past eight years, the ministry
has increasingly focused on
creating an environment where international
investment in tourism can
flourish, including the building of core
infrastructure and enhancing hospitality
skills and human capacity. Today,
its priorities are based on shaping
Azerbaijan as an elite destination for
spa and wellness tourism with a complementary
strand of development
focusing on religious tourism. This
national strategy has highlighted the
Absheron Peninsula and, especially,
the vibrant city of Baku as the hub of
the strategy.
INVESTMENT SURGE
By mid-2000, there were
around 100 hotels in
Azerbaijan, mostly concentrated
in Baku and the two
other major cities of Ganja
and Sheki. At the top end
these were comparable to hospitality
standards expected in western
destinations. In the past three to
five years, however, there’s been an
investment surge signalled by the
early appearance of brands such as
Hyatt and Radisson, as well as locallyowned
boutique hotels such as Hotel
Meridian and Diplomat.
2011 was no exception to the activity.
The 159-bedroom Park Hyatt
invested US$330,000 (£187,000) on
refurbishing its spa that forms part
of the hotel’s three-storey Club Oasis
40 Read Leisure Management online leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital ISSUE 2 2012 © cybertrek 2012