26 REGION EUROPE
26 REGION EUROPE ITB BERLIN NEWS • Thursday 7 th March 2013 www.itb-berlin-news.com
EUROPE REGION 27 The star of the Southern Caucasus takes a new direction Exclusive Interview: Minister of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan, Abulfas Garayev All government agencies had action lists to implement in relevance to tourism, and we achieved objectives that would normally have required much longer time frames. Azerbaijan – So Much to Discover… Abulfas Garayev Minister of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Tourism in Azerbaijan – sponsor of this year’s ITB Convention – is gradually transiting to new levels of maturity. For some years, the availability and diversity of tourism infrastructures were key concerns. We asked the country’s Culture and Tourism Minister, Abulfas Garayev, how this is changing… today – and for the future. Today, the nation has arrived at a new stage, where we are more concerned about issues around quality of services and products offered by the industry. We are more into institutional development of the sector, training, education, norms and standards, as well as more sophisticated development programs. 2011 was the year of tourism. What made that year different, and how did this change people’s attitudes about your country? It was a year during which the main concentration of state was on tourism, its problems and related issues. Virtually all government agencies had action lists to implement in relevance to tourism, and we achieved objectives that would normally have required much longer time frames. Also, special promotional programs have greatly helped in promoting the destinations, involving the private sector and making major progress on infrastructure. To this end, five branded hotels opened in Baku, including Hilton, Marriott, Jumeirah, Four Seasons and Kempinski, raising interest and confidence in Azerbaijan’s tourism market for other investors. At the heart of the program was a very active advertising campaign for Azerbaijan on CNN, Euronews, Eurosport and others. So what, today, are your biggest challenges in taking tourism to the next step, and what IS the next step? The next step is to develop the strategy for next 10 years via analysis of what was done, what was successful, what needs to be revised and changed. As I mentioned earlier, the next stage of development will be concentrated more on institutional facilitation and the revision of programs, with focus on education, awareness, quality of products and services, a strong legislative base and overall improvement of business processes, as well as interfaces between public and private sector. The main challenges are in the fact that tourism is dependent on many other economic factors and interrelated with other segments and fields of activity. So, finding the efficient mechanism of collaboration with others, and the coordination of efforts is one of the key challenges we expect to resolve. Also, there are challenges that are common throughout the tourism industry in almost all countries, including visas, overcoming seasonality, limitations on international transportation networks, continuous improvement to the quality of services, a shortage of well-trained hospitality and tourism industry personnel and so on. [Interview by gary smith] Hall 4.1 Stand 260 Hall 3.2 Stand 109 Hall 7.2B Stand 304 The Republic of Azerbaijan is an important country of the Eurasian continent and it is the largest as well as the most populated region in South Caucasus. Whilst the capital, Baku, has rapidly transformed itself into a highly developed modern city, the surrounding villages still remain untouched. Azerbaijan is divided partially between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. On its eastern side lies the Caspian Sea, whilst the Russian Federation borders it on the north. Other countries which share boundaries with Azerbaijan are Georgia in the west and north-west, Armenia in the south-west and Iran in the south. The Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan is bordered by Armenia to its north and east, while Iran lies to its south and southwest, and Turkey to its west. ITB BERLIN NEWS • Thursday 7 th March 2013
