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Over the past decade it has been possible to form the basic elements of the tourism industry in Azerbaijan: modern hotels and recreation areas have been commissioned and associated services have been created. All this contributed to increasing both the foreign tourist flow and significant investment in the recreation industry. The achievements of the domestic tourism sector were most clearly presented at the annual International Tourism and Travel Exhibition - AITF. This representative forum has been held in Baku for the thirteenth time.

Today Azerbaijan occupies one of the best positions in the world in the rate of annual growth on the recreational market - 10 per cent, which is almost three times higher than the world average. It is noteworthy that in 2012, Azerbaijan achieved an unprecedented pace of income growth in the tourism industry in the post-Soviet area. Thus, according to UNWTO statistics, the country's tourist complex managed to accumulate about 2.433nm dollars, providing a growth of 89 per cent in relation to the previous year. For comparison, the turnover of the tourism industry in Georgia was 1.411bn dollars two years ago and Moldova - about 213m dollars.

The attractiveness of natural and geographical conditions, the rich cultural and historical heritage and the high business status of Azerbaijan create perfect conditions for the activity of local and foreign investors who invest heavily in the development of the tourism infrastructure. Thus, according to the latest figures, the country operates nearly 520 hotels that can accommodate about 35,000 tourists at the same time. Currently, about 60 new hotels of various levels are under construction. After their commissioning, the bed capacity will increase by 10,000-15,000 or 40 per cent. By the pace of building the hotel infrastructure, the country is also one of the leaders in the former Soviet Union. In light of the above facts, it is justified that in the rating of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Azerbaijan moved several notches up on the scale of tourist attractiveness and is among the four leaders in the CIS.

The recent measures to promote inbound tourism resulted in a record number of tourists - more than 2.5m foreign nationals - visiting the country in the past year. And about two million visitors came directly for the purpose of leisure and travel. Thus, we can say that the volume of foreign tourist traffic has been growing steadily in recent years.

The number of foreign tourists who visited us in 2005 did not exceed 1.1m, while thirteen years ago it barely reached 400,000 people. Given the rapid development of the tourism industry, international experts do not rule out a 50 per cent increase in the foreign tourist flow into the country in the next five or six years.

The development of tourism at the present level is inconceivable without strong information support - organization of international tourism conferences and exhibitions. This year there are a record number of participants at the 13th International Tourism Fair AITF-2014, which opened on 3 April, and the geography of states has significantly expanded (351 companies from 38 countries, and about 60 per cent of the participants were represented by foreign companies and national stands) . Within the Tourism Forum, the 8th International Exhibition Everything for Hotels, Restaurants and Supermarkets HOREX Caucasus-2014 was also held.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva familiarized themselves with the exhibition of the Tourism Forum.

During AITF-2014, Baku also hosted the 57th meeting of the European Commission of the World Tourism Organization (WTO). According to the Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Qarayev, the country is paying a lot of attention to the development of tourism today, and the ministry is currently focused on improving two priority fields. "The first task is the development of an entirely new direction for the country - winter tourism, in particular, the development of tourist facilities in Sahdag and Qabala. Another trend is the implementation of the EU twinning- project to improve the tourism management," the minister said. Under this project, experts from EU countries, in particular Austria and Lithuania will assess tourism management in Azerbaijan and share their rich experience and innovation in the tourism sector with us.

It is noteworthy that ahead of the meeting of the European Commis-sion, WTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai arrived in Baku and met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. During the exchange of views, the head of state stressed the priority role of tourism in the state policy of developing the non-oil sector of the economy. The head of state stressed that the current reforms will be continued and conditions for the growth of the foreign tourist flow into the country will become even more simplified in the future.

"Visa facilitation measures undertaken in Azerbaijan and the implementation of the system for the electronic issuance of tourist visas are positive factors influencing the increase in the flow of tourists into your country. Another stage of inclusion in the global travel system is the expansion of direct air services, and Azerbaijan intends to fulfill these obligations. The holding of European games, Islamic Olympics and other international events strengthen the image of Azerbaijan as a country with a developed tourism sector," Taleb Rifai said.

At the AITF-2014 exhibition, an agreement on Azerbaijan's accession to the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism - GCET - was signed. The agreement was signed by the chairman of Azerbaijan Tourism Associ-ation (AzTA), Nahid Bagirov, and UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai. The Code adopted in 2001 has been joined by 247 tourist associations from 34 countries of the world. This document is a set of principles designed to increase the socioeconomic benefits for the tourism industry, minimizing any adverse effects. The main emphasis in the code is on the organization of responsible and sustainable tourism, protection of human rights, socially-oriented policy, environmental responsibility and conservation of cultural artifacts. According to Abulfaz Qarayev, joining the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism imposes certain obligations on travel agencies in Azerbaijan, which will not only improve the quality of recreational services, but will contribute to the further integration of Azerbaijan into the world tourism community.