Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 25 /Trend, I.Isabalayeva/
To strengthen the links between hotels and tour companies in Azerbaijan, it needs to review the contractual relationship between them, the consultant to chairman of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association Muzaffar Agakerimov told Trend on Tuesday.
He said to ensure a large flow of tourists, the hotels must provide special rates, which must be lower than corporate prices, for travel companies.
Because of the high prices in hotels, the travel companies can not attract tourists in them, Agakerimov said.
According to expert, Azerbaijani hotels may benefit from the experience of Turkey in organizing activities. In this country, relationship between the hotels and tour companies has been established well, so the prices in the hotels satisfy tourists. This creates an opportunity to attract more tourists into the hotels.
"When travel companies are preparing tour packages, they include their meals, transportation, tours, additional services and most importantly, stay at the hotel. Therefore, it needs to re-establish relations between the hotels and travel companies in Azerbaijan. If the hotels do not want to stay empty, they should consider this factor," said Agakerimov.
As of the first half of this year, 504 hotels and hotel facilities operate in Azerbaijan. Some 93.3 percent of them is private.