Azerbaijan, Baku, 13 March / Trend A.Akhundov /
The flow of tourists to Azerbaijan is increasing from Japan, China and South Korea. This was told reporters by the Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Nazim Samadov on Wednesday.
"Today, majority of tourists come to Azerbaijan from neighboring countries, however the growth trend is observed in the number of tourists from European countries as well as from Japan, China and South Korea," Samadov said.
According to him, along with development of infrastructure, the quality of services offered to tourists needs to be improved as well.
"Tourism Institute, established in Azerbaijan in 2006, already has about 600 graduates who are in high demand in the labor market and employed in hotels and tourism companies. We are working to improve the quality of tourism services in the country," Samadov said.
According to him, if in 2003 the tourism sector employed 2,678 people; by 2012 this figure has reached 8,000.
"In 2001, there were 69 hotels and hotel-type objects operating in the country, in 2006 - 288, in 2012 - 520. These facilities employ 6,150 people. To date, 221 licensed tourism companies operate in the country," Samadov said.
According to him, in 2003, Azerbaijan was visited by more than one million tourists, whereas in 2012 this figure rose to 2.484 million. Expenditures of tourists in the country increased from $57.7 million to $1.3 billion," Samadov said.