BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.16
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Azerbaijan’s Tourism Representative Office in Israel is working to increase the number and diversity of tourists from Israel to Azerbaijan, Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan George Deek said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“I think there is a huge potential in the sphere of tourism. If we look at the numbers before COVID-19, in 2016 there were 10,000 tourists, in 2019 we had 50,000 tourists from Israel coming to Azerbaijan. There is no reason why by now this number would have doubled if not for COVID-19. COVID-19 is the real murderer of tourism across the world. In Israel we’re suffering from the lack of tourists comparing to the past. Also, in Azerbaijan you have the same problem. It is a global problem, not a local one. We have to see how we’re fighting this pandemic to move to the post-COVID stage, where tourism can revive,” he said.
Deek noted that even as the pandemic is still going, there are still direct flights between Israel and Azerbaijan around once or twice a week.
“That’s a good sign, it means that there is a movement and I believe that the Tourism Representative Office in Israel which was opened lately, will be able to work with the Israeli audience to increase and diversify the number of tourists coming to Azerbaijan. Not everyone is Israel is aware that Azerbaijan has ski sites. Why not to do winter tourism? Why are all the tourists coming in the summer? That’s one example. The youth are not visiting Azerbaijan enough. Mostly families and adults are coming from Israel to Azerbaijan. So why not to talk to the youth. This is what the Tourism board is doing right now in Israel to try to broaden both the number and the diversity of the target audience for tourism to Azerbaijan,” added the envoy.
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