BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 22. The main objective of tourism education is to provide human capital with the necessary knowledge and skills for all types of tourism, Chairman of the State Tourism Agency Fuad Naghiyev said during the 1st meeting of higher education institutions specializing in tourism education within the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC), Trend reports.
"In general, Azerbaijan has 17 higher education institutions providing tourism education in our country. In the 2022/2023 academic year, the number of graduates of tourism education at higher and specialized secondary schools amounted to 1,548 people," he said.
He mentioned that 718 graduates successfully completed sub-baccalaureate tourism education, along with 715 graduates with bachelor's degrees and 115 graduates with master's degrees. He also emphasized that 340 people have obtained the title of graduate in specialties provided by vocational education institutions.
"The main objective of tourism education is to provide human capital with the necessary knowledge and skills for all types of tourism. The growing number of jobs and career opportunities in tourism increases the interest of young people in this field," he added.
The Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) was established in 1992 with the active support of Türkiye and the permanent international secretariat of the organization is located in Istanbul. BSEC was established to promote cooperation, peace, stability, and prosperity in the Black Sea region.
Baku hosts the first meeting of BSEC tourism higher education institutions to discuss cooperation, perspectives and challenges in the field of tourism education.
The meeting is attended by official representatives of states and tourism educational institutions from 11 member countries of the Organization, including Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Russia, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine, as well as representatives of the UN World Tourism Organization.
From January through March of this year, 513,413 foreigners visited Azerbaijan, which is 39 percent higher than the same indicator of 2023 (369,072), according to the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan.
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