Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14
By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend:
In Azerbaijan, both local and foreign tourists show interest in interactive tourism, Director of the State Historical and Ethnographic Reserve "Gala" Malakhat Farajeva told Trend May 14.
She said interactive tours on carpet weaving, pottery, blacksmithing, etc. are organized, and they are ordered in advance.
"For example, master pot makers teach those who want to engage in pottery, carpet-makers show how to weave a carpet, others learn how to roll out pita bread, etc", she said.
Farajeva reminded that there are four museums in the reserve: one free-of-charge museum entitled as "From waste to art" and three paid ones – Ethnographic Museum, Museum of Antiques and the "Gala" Fortress. She added that museums can be visited without interactive tours.
Museum tickets are available, and they cost 2 manats for local tourists, 4 manats for foreigners, she said.
The director of the reserve noted that the cost of interactive tours is higher. In a group of at least ten people, a ticket for Azerbaijani citizens costs 10 manats, for foreign citizens - 15 manats. The price includes a visit to the Ethnographic Museum and the "Gala" Fortress, guide services, as well as excursions to four workshops.
Farajeva said, tourists visiting the Gala reserve are most interested in pottery and the intricacies of baking a lavash (pita bread). At the same time, Chinese tourists are more interested in carpet weaving.
She also said that the number of visitors is growing, and tourists themselves offer to create new services in the framework of interactive tourism, and now work is underway in this direction.
The tours are conducted in Azerbaijani, Russian, English, German and French.
The reserve was established in 2008.