Baku, Azerbaijan, May 20
By Aysham Rustamova – Trend:
The direction of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) tourism is very promising in Azerbaijan, Kanan Guluzade, spokesman for the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan, told Trend.
According to him, this is one of the areas promoted in the sphere of tourism.
"MICE tourism has a great potential in our country. Baku has excellent facilities and infrastructure for holding various international forums, congresses and sports. These include the Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku Convention Center, Baku Crystal Hall, Olympic Stadium and other facilities," he said, adding that each of these facilities fully complies with international standards in the field of MICE tourism.
Guluzade added that all opportunities are being considered for attract tourists to Azerbaijan.
“The State Tourism Agency promotes the existing potential. When we present a new concept in this area, several events are taken as a basis. These are international events, such as the UEFA Europa League final, Formula 1, wine festival, Summer European Youth Olympic Festival, etc. It is possible to attract tourists for each of these from different countries - for example, holding a wine festival is aimed at attracting a large number of tourists from the CIS and the Baltic countries,” he stated.
Guluzade concluded that, in general, the state agency mainly promotes national cuisine, hospitality, and global and regional security.
According to a number of foreign experts of MICE industry, today the Azerbaijani capital is an attractive destination for business events. This is evidenced not only by international forums, congresses, sporting events that have already been held or are planned to be held in the city in the future, but also by numerous business meetings, events and conferences held in Baku every year.