Azerbaijan, Australia intend to increase tourist flow

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

Despite the long distance between Azerbaijan and Australia, there is great potential for developing cooperation between the two countries.

Azerbaijan and Australia intend to expand ties in tourism, Nizami Jafarov, President of the Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce in Australia told Trend.

Jafarov noted that negotiations are ongoing in this direction, adding that cooperation issues were discussed in early 2019.

He stressed that the travel agencies conducted a small study that could develop vacation packages in both directions.

Tourist flow to Azerbaijan amounted to 1.78 million people in January to July 2019, which is 7.4 percent more than the same period last year.

The beautiful nature of Azerbaijan, hospitality of its people, the country's capital with its super modern and ancient buildings draws the attention of all tourists visiting this South Caucasian country. As many as 2.8 million tourists from 196 countries arrived in Azerbaijan in 2018, showing a 5.7 percent increase compared to 2017. 

There are many opportunities for tourism in Azerbaijan, including rural, health, environmental, cultural, social, commercial, sport, etc. The successful holding of international events has also turned Azerbaijan into a country recognizable by everyone in the world, and a country that many foreigners wish to visit as soon as possible.

The economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Australia intensified in 2017. Thus, the first Azerbaijani-Australian business forum was held in 2017 in Baku. Representatives of 30 Australian companies operating in agriculture, oil and gas, tourism, transport and logistics came to Azerbaijan.

Australian experts were also involved in organizing the first European Games, Formula 1 competitions, the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games and other international events held in Azerbaijan. The number of tourists coming to Azerbaijan from Australia continues to grow.

Last year, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Australia amounted to $4.5 million. Australian exports to Azerbaijan accounted for the largest part of bilateral trade ($4 million).

Earlier, Jafarov noted that mining, IT and aerospace industry are among the most promising areas in the implementation of joint projects between Azerbaijan and Australia. He said that Azerbaijani company Global Service Provider (GSP) was negotiating to launch its activity in Australia. In his words, the cooperation in the aerospace industry can be established by Azercosmos OJSC and the Australian Space Agency.