REST YEAR LONG

Winter tourism, and skiing in particular, every year attracts more and more people who wish to learn the joys of a vacation in the cold season. According to the recently published data of the Eurostat, this tourism segment in the European Union grew by 2.6 per cent in the past season. The most popular countries for winter tourism in Europe are Spain, Italy and Austria, as they account for about half of the market. 

Things are a bit different in Azerbaijan so far: the vast majority of Azerbaijanis prefer to recreate in the summer. Yet, the improved infrastructure and construction of new large winter tourism resorts steadily break the stereotypes and encourage those who like new experiences to take their vacation in the winter.

New Sahdag resort and skiing in Pirqulu 

In recent years winter tourism on the resorts located near the Pirqulu national park (Samaxi District) enjoys popularity.  Several high-quality ski tracks lay here and every year there is an increasing number of visitors who like to rest in an environmentally clean place with picturesque scenery. The aide to the chairman of the Association of Tourism Companies of Azerbaijan, Muzaffar Agakarimov, said that skiing tourism in Pirqulu is not popular not only among Azerbaijan, but also foreign tourists. "Such tourism services in this season are also expected to be offered by the facilities operating in Quba and Qabala," Agakarimov said. 

And by the end of the year Sahdag, a vast winter tourism resort situated in Qusar, is to be inaugurated. Sahdag is the pearl of Azerbaijan's tourism industry. Its unique feature is that thanks to artificial snow this will be the first complex in Europe to function year round. For example, driving in the summer from Qusar, where the temperature will be above 30 degrees, in half an hour you will be able to reach a snow-covered area. Five luxury hotels, chalets and cottages in the Oriental style are under constructions on the area of some 2,000 hectares.

At the top of the Sahdag mountain, 2500 metres above the sea level, a rotating restaurant will be built and only a cableway will lead there.

According to the deputy head of the Tourism and Culture Ministry's department for investment and technical programmes, Ruslan Abdulalimov, after the complex is complete it will be able to serve 10,000 tourists daily and 5,000 will be able to live in it. "The state has financed the project since 2006. The complex will have 3-, 4- и 5-star hotels, up to 150 cottages and an entertainment centre," Abdulalimov said. Tourists will be able to use four cableways, with the overall length of 6,5 km, he pointed out. With the launch in Qusar District of the Sahdag tourism complex the development of another type of tourism - skiing - will be begun, as also will the mountain hiking tracks. But this will not complete the construction: an athletic base is being built near the complex. According to the authors of the project, bobsleigh and ski trails, ice skating, and a hockey pitch will be built. And it is possible that very soon the world will know about Azerbaijani skiers and biathletes.

Agakarimov said that the construction of the Sahdag winter tourism resort in Qusar and also the completion of a number of resorts in Qabala will increase the attraction of winter recreation in Azerbaijan. What is more, the development of the infrastructure in Azerbaijani regions will stimulate the development of winter tourism. 

Figures and facts

So far the most favourite places of recreation for Azerbaijanis in the winter are the north and north-west of the country. Here tourism facilities are adapted to servicing tourists in the winter, when cold, frequent rains and snowfall often pose a serious challenge to the infrastructure. Agakarimov added that also Qusar, Quba, Ismayilli and Qabala enjoy popularity. He also pointed out that during the winter holidays people also like to come to tourism facilities in Saki. 

Unfortunately, the official statistics lacks detailed data on the winter tourism market. Nevertheless, a growth in the number of tourists has been observed in recent years (table 1) and they mainly stay in motels, hotels and tourism bases. According to the State Committee for Statistics, camps and private houses are less popular among tourists in Azerbaijan and account for hardly 1 per cent of the market. But this only concerns official reports reflected in the statistics of the tourism companies. Most of those who use camps and private houses do not visit tourism companies and therefore are not registered. The attraction of this kind of recreation is its price - the cost of a stay in a private house in a region in Azerbaijan is 15-20 manats. 

The choice of the place largely depends on the prices. Overall, the aide to the chairman of the Association of Tourism Companies of Azerbaijan said that the cost of recreation in the winter depends on many factors, such as the level of service in the chosen hotel, duration of the stay and so on. Rauf Dadasov, the executive director of the Fortuna Tour tourism company, said that in the winter season the average daily tourism package for two people is 75-80 manats. "The price, as a rule, includes the stay in a hotel, three meals a day and also the services of a guide for passing the tourism route". But tariffs on the winter tourism market are steadily declining. Agakarimov said that the growing number of tourism resorts in Azerbaijani regions encourages competition between the companies and this reduces the tariffs for recreation. 

The official statistics confirm this trend, as they state that over the past six years the average cost of tourism trips sold to the population has decreased by 80 per cent. According to the statistics, tourism companies sold trips worth 29.3 million manats to the population in 2011. 

Couple with the increased popularity of recreation in Azerbaijan this trend will only benefit winter tourism. According to the expectations of Agakarimov, the forthcoming winter season in Azerbaijan will be marked by the growth in the number of tourists, both domestically and internationally. Dadasov said that as a rule the biggest flurry in activity is during the New Year holidays and during school holidays, as well as from 30 December to 10 January. 

However, so far the volume of the winter tourism market leaves much to be desired. According to the official statistics, for instance,  tourism companies book more than 42,000 tourism trips for individuals or groups every year. And in the winter season the tourism companies face a sharp fall in the orders compared to the summer. "The number of clients who come to tourism companies in the winter is at best only 5 per cent of the similar figure for the summer season," Dadasov said. The main reason for the practically 20-fold decrease in demand for this period is the problematic condition of the infrastructure in the Azerbaijani regions, which remains poorly suited for the winter. The local government bodies often do not clear the roads from snow, which also creates difficulties for tourists. 

Still, the implementation of infrastructure projects in Azerbaijani regions facilitates the resolution of such problems in the near future. "All of this, as well as the decrease in the prices of resorts, will undoubtedly increase the number of tourists in Azerbaijan," Dadasov said.

Thus, the main tasks that tourist resorts face is to increase the level of service, ensure that recreation is attractive round the year, and not in one season, use a more acceptable price policy and also to provide the necessary level of infrastructure. Resolving these and other matters will have a positive impact on developing not only the winter tourism, but the entire sector.