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The year 2009, which was marked by global economic crisis, was highly detrimental to the development of world tourism. The number of travellers slumped, while the profits of travel agencies and transport companies declined significantly. These negative trends were felt partially in Azerbaijan, causing an apparent fall in demand for domestic and inbound tourism. To increase the number of foreign travellers, hotels and recreation zones and to ensure other qualitative changes in the field of tourism, Azerbaijan began to implement a new State Programme on Tourism Development for 2010-2014. Reform in the tourism sector of our country is a matter for the next few years, but in this season, Azerbaijani travellers can already count on a sizeable reduction in prices for foreign tours.

Early last year, experts of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) predicted a growth of up to 2 per cent in global tourism. Alas, reality was much worse - growth last year barely exceeded zero. Accordingly, in Azerbaijan, according to preliminary data, the rate of growth in the tourism sector over the past year did not exceed 5-6 per cent, whereas in 2008 the figure had reached an unprecedented 40 per cent. In spring and summer of last year, the peak holiday season, hotels and boarding houses were 78 per cent occupied on average, while some hotels in the southern zone were only 60 per cent occupied. With a fall in the flow of tourists, a number of recreational zones recorded price reductions of up to 20 per cent, but only a small number of market participants decided to reduce the prices.

The pricing policies of Azerbaijani companies are not very flexible and this fact has been an obstacle to lower holiday prices in the country for many years. Until recently, the cost of staying in local recreational zones (excluding transport costs) was comparable with, and sometimes even more expensive than, trips to world class resorts in Turkey or Egypt. The vast majority of Azerbaijani tourist camps and sanatoria do not offer discounts in summer and are extremely reluctant to reduce off-season prices. This is due to the fact that the most visited tourist camps in the Saki-Zaqatala zone, the Quba-Qusar region and the Nabran and Abseron coasts, as well as resorts in the south, tend to operate for three summer months and, if the weather is favourable, for one more month - during the velvet season. In that short time, the owners of resorts try to recoup all the costs of maintaining the infrastructure and personnel and to make at least some profit and, therefore, there is no point in expecting discounts. It is simply unprofitable to introduce a flexible system of discounts and maintain numerous personnel in order to attract a limited number of tourists in autumn, winter and spring - the tradition prevailing in our country does not favour outdoor recreation during the long off-season.

Is it possible to achieve tangible changes in this complex issue and to encourage local travel agencies to pursue a flexible pricing policy? Of course, yes, believes the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The most effective way to overcome the inertia in the tourist market is to boost competition. The Ministry of Tourism adheres to the principle of market regulation of prices, believing that improvements in the quality of services and tariff reductions can be achieved as a result of growth in the number of those involved in the tourism sector and increased supply in all sectors. "In Azerbaijani tourism, there are no monopolistic advantages - anyone can invest in tourism now, as it helps to shape the country's tourism market as a fully open and competitive environment. Our ultimate goal is to increase the supply of tourist services and improve their quality: the more they are provided, the more tangibly prices will fall and the level of services will improve," said Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Qarayev.

Actually, it is this promise which became a major leitmotif of the State Programme on Tourism Development for 2010-2014, approved by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on 6 April. "With the realization of all these plans on schedule, tourism should become the most dynamic sector of Azerbaijan's economy, rising to international standard," Qarayev believes. The state programme requires appropriate government agencies to raise the tourism infrastructure to world level and further enhance the investment attractiveness of the industry. The most important areas of the state programme are: improving the legal framework and mechanisms of state regulation, creating a tourism infrastructure, including on the territories of historical, architectural and cultural monuments, protecting this heritage and its extensive use in order to promote tourism and attract tourists. A special issue is the creation of recreational zones - their drafts should be prepared by next year. Moreover, these projects must cover all regions of the country where it is necessary to develop different areas of tourism, create new tourist routes and expand the network of hotels and tourism camps. In the next couple of years, plans should be prepared to build resorts around medicinal waters and other natural resources. It is planned to develop and implement the most advanced methods and standards to improve the quality of tourist services at those sites. Another major focus will be the organization of social tourism - affordable holidays for the general public. Among other things, it is also planned to improve the staffing of the industry, including the creation of a National Training Centre for Tourism at the Institute of Tourism in 2012. As part of the state programme, the Ministry set up a working group that developed the initial version of the bill "On tourism". This decision was dictated by the fact that articles of the current law are slightly outdated and make it difficult to implement the programme. "Very soon, the bill will be submitted to parliament, and we will try to ensure that this document comes into force as early as next year," said Qarayev.

It is notable that in the most important element of the state programme - the development of tourism infrastructure, especially the construction of hotels, our country has achieved the greatest success.

It would seem that the negative trends in world tourism and the slowdown in our country would push Azerbaijani companies to freeze the construction of tourist facilities or at least eliminate the possibility of new projects. However, despite the global crisis, the dynamics of the construction of new hotels and hotel-type facilities in our country has remained almost unchanged.

Today there are over 370 hotels in the country, and nearly three-quarters of them were put into operation over the past seven years. In 2008 alone, Azerbaijan opened 54 new hotels and boarding houses while, on average, approximately 30-40 hotel-type facilities have been built annually over the past four years. In 2009, nearly six dozen hotels were being built, and twenty of them were put into operation. "Currently about 50 large and small hotels are being built and, if this pace is maintained, we plan to increase the number of beds in hotels in Azerbaijan from 24,000 to 30,000 by 2015," said the Minister of Culture and Tourism. In his opinion, this is the optimal figure for the coming years, and the capacity of hotels will fully satisfy the needs of the tourism sector in the capital and regions. Equally high dynamics are being observed in increasing the number of travel agencies - while in 2002 there were 32 travel agencies in the country, their number has now risen to 123.

Ultimately, all these measures are aimed at increasing the number of holidaymakers and, above all, of foreign visitors. "Given the 40-per-cent growth in the number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan in 2008, we can say that over the past two years, the influx of tourists into the country has grown considerably, and this significant figure is recognized by the World Tourism Organisation as one of the best for the crisis period," says Qarayev.

If this trend continues in the post-crisis period then, in the next two to three years, the number of foreign visitors to Azerbaijan may increase from a peak of 1.4 million people to about two million.

The implementation of all these plans is a matter of several years. In about a month, the traditional summer tourist season will start in Azerbaijan, and our citizens should now decide on the plans - where and how they want to spend their holiday. Speaking of tourist trips abroad, prices this year will be at least no higher than last year - the world's hotel networks are suffering losses and will not inflate prices. Prices for popular trips to Turkey and Egypt, according to those posted on the websites of travel agencies, have not increased, and in some cases, have even become cheaper. A week-long visit to these countries costs about 500 manats on average. Our travel agencies have benefited from the "discount war" which European tour operators have been waging since last year. The dumping champion of summer vacations is, of course, Turkey, especially its Mediterranean resorts. Last year, the price of travel to the neighbouring country fell by 20 per cent and, this spring, prices will fall by another 10-15 per cent. Our travel agencies can increase the price of services only in the event of a sharp rise in airfares but, given the current oil prices, such changes are unlikely this summer.

However, we should not discard unforeseen force majeure situations which disrupt the plans of tourism agencies at the very beginning of the season. In May last year, travel agencies and airlines suffered significant losses due to the so-called swine flu, which reduced the number of holidaymakers at popular resorts. In mid-April of this year, flights to Europe were completely paralyzed due to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland. According to meteorologists, the ash cloud still remains in the air over most of Europe, which puts flights at risk. We can only hope that the consequences of this natural disaster will be overcome soon, and tourist flights will regain momentum.