IMAGE INDEX

The Novruz holiday week is now behind, giving adults and children a mass of positive emotions and a festive mood. The truly spring weather in Azerbaijan these days prompted many holidaymakers to spend their weekend in the lap of nature away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Today almost all the regions of the country can boast a pretty good infrastructure to provide a decent holiday for fans of domestic tourism and foreign visitors. It is not in vain that Azerbaijan has increased its competitiveness in tourism, according to the report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), "The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report-2013".

Higher rating, better quality

According to the report, in the rankings published every two years, Azerbaijan rose from the 83rd to the 78th position. Besides that, according to the WEF, in terms of tourism legislation, Azerbaijan ranks 46th in the world, the business environment and infrastructure - 87th, and human, cultural and natural resources for tourism - 96th.

It must be noted that the main index - the index of competitiveness in travel and tourism - is calculated based on a number of indicators and covers 140 countries. Among these indicators, the WEF gave a relatively high assessment to the transparency of government (48th in the world), the number of days to start a business (33rd), the cost of starting a business (33rd), and the duration of the development of the sector (41st). It is noteworthy that the security situation in the country was assessed as satisfactory (52nd), the health and hygiene situation (34th), in particular, the number of hospital beds per 10,000 people (8th). Also, according to researchers, the situation in our country is good in terms of effective marketing to attract tourists (44th), completeness of information in the field of tourism (22nd), fuel prices (17th), the number of world heritage sites (45th), etc.

The WEF considers the regulations for getting a visa to Azerbaijan, access to safe drinking water, the state of the tourism infrastructure, airport fees and taxes, the quality of education and natural resources as problematic aspects.

The indicators generally quite accurately reflect the results of the development of the tourism industry in Azerbaijan in recent years. And the problematic aspects can be disputed. For example, as far as natural resources are concerned, 10 per cent of Azerbaijani territory is a protected area, and there are 8 national parks and more than 20 nature reserves. In recent years, attention to environmental issues has increased, the tourist infrastructure is improving (in 10 years, the number of hotels increased by 5 times), and as far as access to drinking water is concerned, the issue is about to be resolved owing to the launch of new major projects in water supply.

But in general, as was noted, progress in these rankings is another significant plus for the country's tourism image. However, progress in this area is also confirmed by official statistics, according to which since 2003, the number of tourists visiting the country has more than doubled, reaching 2.484 million, while the expenses of tourists in the country have increased from $ 57.7 million to $ 1.3 billion.

Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Nazim Samadov said that most tourists come to Azerbaijan from neighbouring countries, but the recent period has seen a growth in the number of tourists from European countries, Japan, China and South Korea.

With the launch of winter tourism complexes, indicators of domestic tourism have also increased significantly. In two months, the Sahdag ski resort was visited by 50,000 tourists, which is record attendance for tourism facilities in Azerbaijan. According to Samadov, the low interest of foreign tourists in the complex is due to the fact that Sahdag is not that popular in the world yet. "However, the ministry participates annually in more than 20 tourism exhibitions abroad, and the Sahdag resort is an integral part of our promotion everywhere," he added.

Personnel issue

However, the Ministry of Tourism does not deny the existence of certain problems. For example, the increase in the number of objects that provide services to travellers is a very positive phenomenon, of course. But among them there are enough of those which are not included in the general register and do not have adequate infrastructure, let alone competent staff. Naturally, the poor quality of services in such establishments casts a shadow on the overall tourist image of the country. The fight against them has been conducted for many years. Recently, the Ministry of Tourism appealed to the Ministry of Taxes and Economic Development for a joint fight against unlicensed hotels. According to Samadov, there are 514 hotels and hotel-type facilities in Azerbaijan today, and only 260 of them have the necessary licence. "Today, there are hotels that claim to be four- or five-star hotels, but in fact, they have no relevant permission. This is a violation of consumer rights. The ministry is suing a number of such facilities," the official warned.

In addition, the ministry is not happy with the illegal construction of individual houses in reserves - favourite places for tourists. "During the beginning of such illegal activities, some departments of culture and tourism do not fully perform their duties and demonstrate a passive position. This attitude to the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan is completely unacceptable. To avoid such cases, department heads should mobilize all available means," the deputy minister said. By the way, Minister Abulfaz Qarayev also complains about the work of regional departments of culture and tourism, lamenting the fact that their work involves fewer and fewer personnel with higher special education.

We must say that the lack of qualified specialists in the field of tourism and the poor level of staff are quite a tangible and big problem today. With the growing number of tourist facilities, the need for staff working in them has also sharply increased. For example, if in 2003 the tourism sector employed 2,678 people, by 2012 this figure reached 8,000 people. The WEF expects an increase of 2.7 per cent in employment in the tourism sector in the next 10 years.

But quantitative growth does not necessarily mean high-quality service. As the Institute of Tourism appeared in Azerbaijan relatively recently (in 2006), the lack of professional personnel is still being felt. The Ministry of Tourism sees the way out of the situation in sending employees of tourist facilities who have already gained experience and have proved themselves to special refresher courses.

The shortage of specialists in the field of tourism is also confirmed by the rector of the Azerbaijani Institute of Tourism (AIT), Eldar Aslanov. According to him, in order to address the problem, the AIT set up the Baku Vocational School of Tourism in 2011, and in the future, such institutions will appear in regions, particularly in Qusar, Zaqatala, Samkir, Goygol and Masalli. Today the vocational school has over 500 and the AIT - 1,500 students. There is also an AIT training centre, in which hundreds of people received special certification courses (tour guides, travel agents, etc.). As for the AIT, 566 people have graduated from it over the last three years and have already found jobs in various tourist facilities, ranging from five-star hotels to the Sahdag summer and winter complex. "We are trying to make sure that AIT graduates are really highly qualified personnel. To this end, together with Austria's Krems University, we realize a programme of dual diplomas for the first time in the history of education in the country, and as part of the programme, about 100 of our graduates received diplomas from the two institutions of education," Aslanov said. Besides that, he added, special attention is given to language courses and practices, which is why they are also sent to foreign countries. "I hope that within the framework of the state programme on the development of tourism, which covers 2010-14, indicators for the sector will improve even more," Aslanov added.

In any case, WEF researchers do not doubt that the progress made in the field of tourism in Azerbaijan will be maintained. For example, the production of added value in the tourism sector in Azerbaijan is expected to increase by 7.5 per cent by 2022. According to the organization, GDP in the tourism industry in Azerbaijan reached $ 1.1 billion in 2012, which is 1.9 per cent of GDP, while GDP in the tourism economy reached $ 4.12 billion (6.9 per cent). Therefore, problems will have to be solved in the high-speed mode. And the growth in indicators and improvement in the ranking of international organizations obliges us to solve problems in a more high-speed mode.