Azerbaijan Hotels Association established

CT Minister Abulfaz Garayev said that as a non-profit organization, the AHA will contribute to the development of hotels, improvement of services, development of projects on hotels, and national and international programs.

He underlined that the number of hotels and inns are growing rapidly, such as there were 94 hotels in Azerbaijan in 2002, 96 in 2003, 292 in 2005 and 294 in 2006. At present hotels host 21,000 guests a day. Over one million tourists visited Azerbaijan this year.

But, 45 hotels have to ate been certificated in Azerbaijan.

"Some hotels apply to us for stars while they don't merit even one star. Tourists complain about poor and low-quality services in Azerbaijan. I therefore think that it is high time to set up such an association. This association should defend the interests of hotels," he underscored.

Garayev said that he wanted local businesspeople to set up hotels. "To speak frankly, I would never want foreigners to own Azerbaijan's deluxe hotels," he stressed.

The Minister complained of passiveness of some hotels. "We hardly see hotels in international exhibitions. Only few hotels appear in shows. We will require them to carry out promotional campaigns," he stated.

Expressing his dissatisfaction with the hotels cooperation with tourism companies, Mr. Garayev said that the association will improve the cooperation between them, APA reports.