Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 6 / Trend /
Trend Agency analytic center head Ellada Khankishiyeva
The number of hotels in Azerbaijan increases every year along with the number of foreign tourists visiting the country. The country had 70 hotels and hotel complexes in 2002. Then, just over 800,000 tourists visited the country. At present, there are more than 500 hotels and more than 1.5 million of tourists.
According to the Culture and Tourism Ministry, about 40 new hotels are under construction in Azerbaijan at the moment. Today, the hotel fund of the republic consists of 31,000 rooms compared to 9,000 in 2002. As a result of the state program for development of tourism for 2008-2016, the capacity of hotels and resorts must be increased to 150,000.
Azerbaijan expects to attract around 3 million tourists annually in the long term, and the number of hotels in the country must reach at least 1,300 to receive them, given that each of them can receive an average of about 70 people a day.
The "Hilton Baku" hotel complex, located in the center of Baku, was opened on Oct. 3. "Kempinski Hotel Badamdar" hotel was opened in September. The Four Seasons, Marriott, Flame Towers and Jumeirah Bilgah Hotel are expected to be opened by late 2011. The number of international hotel brands in the country demonstrate Azerbaijan's great tourism potential and will contribute to increased competition between them. This will mean improved services and lower prices, and that tourists will have a wide range of choices.
At present, business and congress tourism are the area of development in Baku, and their participants stay only at five-star hotels. Therefore, there is a lack of three or four star hotels with reasonable prices and quality services in Baku. The Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Ministry is preparing special proposals to build hotels of various categories.