Today.Az » Business » How to attract tourists to Baku
05 October 2017 [11:26] - Today.Az


By Azernews


By Amina Nazarli

Some people worldwide have very scanty knowledge about Azerbaijan. Asking about “the Land of Fire” more knowledgeable foreigners can say that Azerbaijan is a former Soviet country in the Caucasus Region on the Caspian Sea, and shares borders with Russia, Iran, Georgia and Armenia.

What is particular to now about this country is that due to its particular geographic location, Azerbaijan is a real blend of East and West, with a deep and intriguing history.

Mainly this reason and many others make the republic the most interesting Caucasian country to visit.

Despite this huge potential, Azerbaijan is not very popular on tourist maps, while the state is working hard to include the country in travel bucket list of thousands travelers.

The potential of the country as a whole has been already promoted and many influential TV channels and magazines have wonderful review on “The Land of Fire.”

But, the state wants to highlight its capital Baku, the largest city in the Caucasus region, was known throughout the world.

Baku, a city of contrasts, has always something new to discover. And increasingly, Baku is becoming known as a tourist destination. Mature travelers and young backpackers are coming to Baku in greater numbers.

Spokesperson of the National Tourism Propaganda Bureau Kanan Guluzade says that promotion of Azerbaijan is not enough, and alongside the country its capital Baku should also has its tourism brand, over which a group of professionals are currently working.  

Indeed, over the last decade, Baku has expanded tremendously with a number of skyscrapers, shopping malls, restaurants and hotels. Tourism in Baku is booming so much that it’s becoming a trend destination for many neighboring and remote tourists to get away for a weekend.

“In addition, Baku's marketing strategy is underway. In particular, we expand relations with business structures of Baku. Different measures are taken to make them more attractive for tourists,” he said.

Currently, we are studying the marketing sector of tourism sphere in several directions.

“For example, let's talk about Russian market. This market is very different. For example, it turned out that the demand from tourists from St. Petersburg is quite different from those coming from Moscow, except those coming from Vladivostok. That is, the segmentation should be done here. We also work in several directions, including Asia, particularly in China, Malaysia and Indonesia, the largest Muslim state. In addition, efforts are being made to increase the number of tourists coming from Israel,” he explained.

Guluzade noted that they work in several directions to promote Azerbaijani tourism.

"For example, we have very close relations with Baltic states, as well as Poland. We are partners therefore we spread the materials about each other's tourism potential," he added.

In general, there are several ways of propaganda, according to the spokesperson, noting that one of them is primarily through the media.

“Forbes magazine, Reuters agency, and other influential mass media write articles about Azerbaijan tourism and prepare reports. In addition, the Bureau already has partners in the CIS, Turkey, Europe and America,” he said.

Another direction is digital marketing, according to Guluzade.

“We have built the azerbaijan.travel site in a completely new concept. This site already has over 10,000 followers. The site is currently in English and Russian, but in the future, it will probably be in other languages in accordance with directions we choose,” he explained.

In addition, Guluzade informed about the creation of the salambaku.travel site, which will be just about Baku. Social networks and other Internet resources are also used, and this will be further expanded.

 “People now get information mostly on smartphones. We also should be in their smartphone, everyone in the world should know about Azerbaijan,” he said. “Our main goal is that foreigners get acquainted with Azerbaijan, its history, culture, cuisine and prices. We are working on increase of information and make it more colorful.”



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