COUNTRYSIDE INSTEAD OF A FOREIGN COUNTRY

The pandemic crisis, with its unprecedented damage to the tourism sector throughout the world, still has a negative effect on the recreational sector of Azerbaijan. However, due to the lifting of restrictions on visiting the districts of the country and the mass vaccination this summer, there has been a favourable trend for recreation in the country.

Recovery is yet to come

According to the UN World Tourism Organization (UN WTO), in January-May 2021, the decline in tourism incomes internationally reached 85% compared to the same pre-pandemic period of 2019. In five months of 2021, the number of international passenger flights internationally decreased to 147 million compared to the same period in 2020, which is 460 million less than in 2019.

The UNWTO report notes that the largest crisis in the history of tourism is still active. A slight upward trend in cross-border travel was recorded in May after the easing of lockdown restrictions in a number of countries, in particular, after the introduction of digital "green" certificates for travellers by the EU countries. However, amid the spread of more dangerous strains of COVID-19, lockdown has been resumed. Accordingly, indicators for the recreational sector have also changed - in June-July, the pace of development of domestic tourism is several times ahead of the dynamics of international travel.

According to UNWTO experts, after the global industry losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, world tourism will restore to its pre-crisis level no earlier than in 2023. In the meantime, over 64% of countries are fully or partially closed to tourists. In the countries that have lowered the level of lockdown restrictions, guests are mostly allowed only from countries with an extremely low level of pandemic threat, as well as those who have completed a full course of vaccination.

Vaccination is the main incentive

The negative trends noted by UNWTO experts, most of which are also observed in Azerbaijan, do not improve the dynamics of inbound and outbound tourism. Certainly, in comparison with last year's peak of the pandemic, there is still a certain positive trend, as at the end of July the total number of vaccinated citizens in Azerbaijan reached 4.6 million, and almost 2 million of them received two doses of vaccines. The obvious success of Azerbaijan in vaccination makes the vacation in our country relatively safe. This is extremely important for foreign nationals who assess the likely risks of summer vacations. After the resumption of flights with Turkey and Russia starting from June 10, 2021, the number of trips to Azerbaijan increased slightly, also thanks to the UEFA Championship matches held in Baku a month ago. Approximately 20,000 Turkish fans arrived in Azerbaijan at that time, and hotel bookings by Russian tourists also noticeably increased. Since June 21, the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers included the USA, Bahrain, UAE, Great Britain, Israel, Hungary, Qatar in the list of countries with a high level of vaccination - tourists from these countries are also allowed to enter Azerbaijan freely.

Balneological tourism can also become a promising area for attracting foreign tourists. Since June, various tourist web resources such as TurStat and the media of post-Soviet countries published a number of advertisements, which confirm the renewed interest in Azerbaijan’s medical resorts , such as Naftalan, Galaalty, Duzdagh, Istisu. Russian tourists show great interest to the Naftalan resort. The opening of the Naftalan central sanatorium also confirms the perspective development of this tourist destination. “The opening of a new medical facility in Naftalan is a significant event. Naftalan should become one of the centres of tourism. Over the past 15 years, we have attracted large investments here, with 13 hotels and sanatoriums already functioning, more than 2,300 spots for tourists created. This process continues,” President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at the opening ceremony of a new recreational facility in Naftalan.

Expensive air tickets

The final data on summer traffic of inbound tourism, including treatment destinations, will be available by September 2021. Of course, it is difficult to expect a significant increase in the number of foreign tourists. Inconsistency in international travel safety protocols still hinders the full recovery of cross-border tourism.

With regard to Azerbaijan, there is a problem of mass budget passenger flights, which make the air tickets expensive. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in 2020, the volume of passenger traffic fell by 60%. Therefore, the airlines incurred losses of $370 billion internationally. The global civil aviation market has recently become recovering from the crisis. Airlines (including the low-cost ones) are trying to somehow recover the colossal losses, not to mention the sharp increase in fuel prices due to the increase in oil prices since spring 2021. Accordingly, in many countries, the cost of air tickets significantly exceeds the indicators of the pre-crisis 2019.

These objective factors negatively contribute to the aviation market in Azerbaijan. So, a flight to Turkey, which is most popular in the summer season, particularly the Baku-Istanbul-Baku flights, will cost you at least ₼800 by Turkish Airlines. Tickets of other airline companies may be even higher. Unfortunately, despite the resumption of flights with a dozen countries, the national air carrier, AZAL, is in no hurry to reduce ticket prices. Recently, this problem was discussed in the Milli Mejlis. MPs called on AZAL to reconsider the pricing policy. In turn, the executive director of the Azerbaijan Tourism Bureau Florian Sengstschmid believes that low prices of international flights are the key incentive for foreign tourists to visit Azerbaijan. “As a tourism organisation, we understand the importance of the availability of transport services. We hold negotiations with partners in the public and private sectors. We believe that this issue will be resolved in the near future,” Mr. Sengstschmid said.

Obviously, we can talk about the massive resumption of flights of foreign low-cost airlines to Azerbaijan and the stabilisation of the tariff policy of airlines as the crisis is over in 2022-2023. So far, high prices for air carrier services hinder not only inbound, but also outbound tourism. According to Azerbaijani travel agencies, about 70% of foreign trips made by Azerbaijani nationals in the current vacation season are not related to tourism. These are mainly commercial and business trips of employees, as well as departures of students and patients.

Home sweet home

Thus, the main demand of Azerbaijani nationals this summer is the recreation in the district of Azerbaijan, which fits well into the UNWTO concept. They believe that in 2021 the countries of the world need to focus on stimulating domestic tourism as a first step to revive the industry.

In general, the recreational potential of Azerbaijan has sufficient capacity and allows to provide good vacation for citizens. Over the past two decades, about 600 hotel-type facilities have been created in the country, designed for the simultaneous reception of about 40,000 vacationers. There is a developed recreational infrastructure, including catering, entertainment, sports, balneological facilities. In recent years, due to the popularity of ecological and rural tourism, thousands of individual entrepreneurs, as well as farmers provide accommodation services for travellers. All this, including the resumption of passenger traffic to and from the districts, suggests that this summer the accommodation rate of hotels, boarding houses and recreation areas in the districts will be at a relatively high level.

According to the State Tourism Agency, if a favourable epidemiological situation remains effective during the current holiday season, we can expect a 50% increase in the number of citizens chosing the districts as a place for recreation and travel.

According to preliminary data, since the beginning of summer, the main demand in the tourism sector has been the resort zones located in the districts of Azerbaijan. Demand for vacation in Gabala, Ismayilli, Sheki districts located in the west of Azerbaijan, as well as in Guba, Khachmaz and Gusar districts, on the sea coast, in the mountains and forests of the Lankaran zone has significantly increased.

‘Traditional’ price increase

At the same time, the lack of opportunities to travel abroad and the inflow of tourists to the districts of Azerbaijan push the prices for travel services high. According to the deputy Vugar Bayramov, the cost of recreation in districts has increased significantly compared to the pre-pandemic period. Today some entrepreneurs are committed to get as much income as possible in the shortest possible time.

The cost of renting a house in the private sector has also significantly increased. If in 2018-2019 a room for a family of four cost an average of ₼20-30 daily, now in a number of "promoted" resorts prices reach ₼35-₼50.

A tangible rise in prices was also observed in the most popular among the residents of Baku beach areas. On many beaches of the Absheron Peninsula, where two years ago renting a canopy with a table, chairs and a sunbed cost ₼5-10, prices increased by 1.5-2 times. Owners of beach facilities are trying to compensate for the losses of the pandemic period and given the almost complete absence of foreign guests, it is the average local residents that suffer from the difference in prices. Unfortunately, the quality of service, cleanliness of private beaches and sea water remains at the same poor level. A pleasant exception is several municipal beaches created before the pandemic at the initiative of the public association IDEA. Entry and parking on such beaches are free, chairs and sun loungers are rented at minimal prices, and finally, it is much cleaner here, showers and other services are available.

According to Samir Dubendi, chairman of the board of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan has a great yet incompletely utilised potential for sea and beach recreation. This potential is most fully presented in the Action Plan for the Development of Beach Tourism in Azerbaijan for 2017-2020, approved by the President of Azerbaijan. According to Mr. Dubendi, during the pandemic, the implementation of some of these initiatives was postponed for objective reasons. In the future, as the crisis in the tourism sector is over, it is necessary to continue the development of the tourism infrastructure in the Caspian. In particular, in order to attract foreign tourists, he outlined a number of priorities for sea tourism, including the development of diving and sailing tourism, the organisation of fishing for amateurs, as well as the preparation of joint sea cruises with the countries of the Caspian region.

As a result, the pandemic should have a beneficial effect for the development of local tourism sector and motivate it to improve infrastructure, service, and pricing policy. The main thing is to take the advantage of this opportunity.