Azerbaijan, Baku, July 9 / Trend I.Isabalayeva /
Some 499 hotels and hotel-type facilities operate in Azerbaijan, the head of the Culture and Tourism Ministry's Section for research, statistics, and licensing, Rahman Orujlu, told Trend.
He said some 312 of them operate on the basis of licenses issued by the ministry and 187 - illegally.
"Certain documents are required to obtain a license. Objects that operate illegally appeal to the ministry for a license, but their documents are not in order in most cases. So, now they are busy with gathering the necessary documents. Illegal hotels are mainly located in the country's regions. The owners first build and only then think about the documents," Orujlu said.
He said the licensing of hotel facilities is possible only if their conditions meet the minimum requirements.
"On the other hand, the Culture and Tourism Ministry's fundamental position is - not to issue license to hotel facilities with a low service level. These are carriage-type objects, no minimum conditions exist. It would be wrong to issue license to such facilities. The issue of their licensing can be considered when the conditions will be improved and will meet the minimum requirements," he added.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry is not authorized to take any measures to curb the activities of such facilities. The country's tax authorities or other relevant agencies can deal with this issue, Orujlu said.
He said about 80 hotels and hotel-type facilities operating in the country received the category of "stars". The assignment of 'stars' to hotels and hotel-type facilities is voluntary. Today, some 15 "five star" hotels operate in the country, 13 of them are located in Baku. The republic has 37 "four star" hotels, 21 of which are located in Baku and 21 "three Stars" hotels, 13 of which are located in Baku. The number of "two-star" hotels is three, one of which is located in the capital.