Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 21
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
The signing of the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea can be an additional incentive for the development of tourism in Azerbaijan, chairman of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) Nahid Baghirov told Trend.
“First of all, this agreement will allow developing cruise tourism in the Caspian Sea,” he added. "This will allow us to offer more services to incoming tourists, thereby increasing the duration of their stay in the country."
“Moreover, this step will allow us to work together with other Caspian countries to organize joint tours,” Baghirov said. “Additional opportunities will appear for Azerbaijani citizens wishing to spend their vacation on a cruise, but who do not have the opportunity to do that in European countries.”
“The creation of the necessary infrastructure may take much time,” he said. "The issue of creating cruise tourism in the Caspian Sea is only an idea. Even if this issue is agreed within the next year, it will take much time to prepare all necessary conditions and infrastructure, explore the needs and desire of tourists and other issues.”
“We will prepare and advertise summer tourism in September-October 2018, so it will take time to popularize this type of tourism in general,” Baghirov said. “In general, the issue of cruise tourism in the Caspian Sea will be resolved in 2019, then this kind of tourism will gain popularity only in 2020."
In his turn, Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov has recently said that the issue of creating cruise tourism in the Caspian Sea can be discussed during the first meeting of the high-level working group created upon the decision of the heads of the state of the Caspian Sea.
"The first meeting of the high-level working group is expected to be held in Azerbaijan till late 2018,” he said. “I do not know yet what projects will be developed. Perhaps one of them will be the creation of the system of cruise tourism in the Caspian Sea. Both our countries and our people who want to travel are interested in that. This is still an idea, but I would like it to be implemented in a fairly short period of time."
The signing ceremony of the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea was held on August 12 at the 5th summit of the heads of state of the Caspian countries in the Kazakh city of Aktau.
The document was signed by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Iran Hassan Rouhani and President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.
Moreover, the heads of the relevant agencies of the Caspian states signed other important documents arising from this Convention – the Protocol on cooperation in the field of combating organized crime in the Caspian Sea, the Agreement between the governments of the Caspian states on trade and economic cooperation, the Agreement between the governments of the Caspian states on cooperation in the field of transport, the Agreement on the prevention of incidents in the Caspian Sea and the Protocol on cooperation and interaction of border agencies.
--
Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov