TREATMENT THROUGH RECREATION

Azerbaijan is fast restoring the level of tourist inflow after the pandemic also thanks to the lifting of entry restrictions and the opening of flights, which suggest a significant increase in revenues from the tourism sector.

But the main disadvantage of the business—not only in Azerbaijan but also in many even very popular global destinations—is seasonality. This is very inconvenient, as keeping hotels and hostels empty in the off-season costs almost the same as it does to keep them profitable in the summer.

Therefore, recreational tourism, including health (medical) tourism, is getting increasingly popular worldwide, making it possible to receive visitors all year round. Azerbaijan has a long-standing  historical experience in this area, as thousands of people were visiting the country in the twentieth century to be treated and rehabilitated in various spa treatment centres. But later a number of facilities fell into decline, with only a small part of the huge potential of this destination exploited today.

Meanwhile, as noted at the 4th World Health Tourism Exhibition HESTOUREX held in Baku, there are plenty of opportunities to re-promote health tourism in Azerbaijan.

Recovery and rehabilitation

The ground-breaking ceremony for the Istisu spa and the eponymous mineral water plant in the Kalbajar district took place on June 26 with the participation of President Ilham Aliyev.

Head of Presidential Administration, Ramin Guluzade, said that the spa will cover an area of 34 hectares and will be able to serve 300 people daily. In addition to the health and rehabilitation centre, there are plans to build 10 cottages in the complex.

The first spa around the Istisu Spring was built back in 1928, but was destroyed during the Armenian occupation of the area. Now it will be completely restored. "We will soon see a nice new hotel and a spa treatment centre here. I think this is very important because the Istisu spa and mineral water were the symbols of this region, the natural treasure of Kalbajar," President Aliyev said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony.

Garabagh has long been a popular destination for health tourism. Thousands of people came here from the neighbouring countries to drink life-giving water, breathe the incredibly pure air and be treated with medicinal herbs. In the 20th century there were several successfully functioning resorts, and Istisu was one of the most popular ones. In the Soviet period, over 50,000 people were visiting the area annually. The spring is located in a picturesque natural area surrounded by forests with rare trees, mountains and monuments of ancient history.

By the way, the Lachin district bordering Kalbajar is also rich in thermal waters. Shusha, Hadrut, Fuzuli, Sugovushan and the East-Zangezur region have rich resources and potential for the establishment of health resorts.

They may well become a basis for new, modern health tourism in Azerbaijan in the future.

According to experts, today Azerbaijan mainly takes advantage of its recreational potential in three directions: Naftalan (the only location in the world where the tourists are treated with oil), the salt caves of Duzdagh (very useful for people with bronchial diseases), and Galaalty, with its thermal waters known far beyond Azerbaijan. More than half of all tourists seeking spa treatment and relaxation come here, with about 60% from abroad.

In fact, there are enough and quite large facilities in almost all regions of the country. Currently there are 132 spa centres and resorts with 27,000 beds and 10 tourist bases with 4,000 beds. On average, more than 600,000 people can be treated at these resorts annually, while the real potential of these resorts is up to 2 million people. But many of them have long been in need of restoration and a new, modern approach to organise treatment and recreation.

Current trends

Despite the State Programme for the Development of Resorts in Azerbaijan in 2009-2018, experts believe the document had several drawbacks. Particularly, the resort business was separated from tourism. Today the recreational sector in the world includes not only rehabilitation treatment, but the whole complex of facilities providing medical, rehabilitation, recreation and entertainment services—as a full package very beneficial for consumers. People with health problems find it easier when the whole process of treatment and recovery takes place in a nearby location.

According to Sharifa Hasanova of the State Tourism Agency (ASTA), a survey conducted two years ago showed that patients of tourist facilities lacked entertainment services to be enjoyed in-between treatment and rehabilitation procedures. That’s why they began to create cultural centres, museums, and so on.

Meanwhile, according to Chingiz Hajiyev, head of PMD Hospitality, an asset management company with a focus on health and leisure services, tour packages to health resorts should be developed with participation of specialists so that entertainment segment does not conflict with the concept of treatment. "Besides, we should take into account that these are long-term packages, hence it is necessary to develop an affordable pricing concept for people who need rehabilitation," Hajiyev said.

He also believes that health resorts should have a different conceptual approach and not be used as conventional hotels. "Today, many spa centres in Azerbaijan use the state-of-art equipment and highly qualified personnel. However, there are still some problems. For example, we have problems with digitising information about each patient and creating data folders that would make it possible to trace the entire course of treatment to develop further strategies. This process is going very slowly," Hasanov said. He added that it was necessary to certify the products and services provided, including the Naftalan oil, therapeutic mineral waters, etc.

"Although the state standard AZS 745-2015 that provides the list of hotels and hotel-type facilities and determines their star categories and evaluation criteria was adopted in 2015, it does not define the standards of health resort facilities. Thus, it is necessary to introduce a separate standard for them," Samir Dubendi, executive director of the Ecotourism Association of Azerbaijan said.

All experts agree that health tourism in Azerbaijan should be developed as soon as possible. It is necessary to use the existing traditions of medical tourism and find new innovative solutions to expand the boundaries of Azerbaijan's balneological resorts. "If other types of tourism are seasonal, health and therapeutical tourism is relevant all year round. In addition, it lasts 12-18 days on average, while being very profitable from an economic point of view," the head of Association for Support of Medical and Thermal Tourism Ruslan Guliyev said.

In short, the development of health tourism is important both socially (to improve the quality of health services) and economically (to raise additional revenue for the state budget).