By Azernews

By Rasana Gasimova

Russia’s TurStat analytical agency has included Azerbaijan’s ski resorts - Tufandag in Gusar region and Shahdag in Gabala region – into the list of top 10 best recreation centers among the CIS countries for January-February 2020.

The agency said that Azerbaijan is one of the five countries that Russian tourists visit for skiing and snowboarding.

Following the results of the analysis of tours and offers at winter resorts, the top ten places among the CIS countries also included: Shymbulak, Altai Alps and Nurtau in Kazakhstan, Logoisk and Silichi in Belarus, Tsaghkadzor in Armenia, Karakol in Kyrgyzstan and Chimgan in Uzbekistan, TurStat said.

Azerbaijan’s Shahdag Tourism Center ski resort was set up in 2013. The resort is located 200 kilometers away from Baku - on the territory of the Shahdag national park, in the Gusar region of Azerbaijan, 32 kilometers from the regional center Gusar. Shahdag is a unique resort that can receive guests all year round. The temperatures at Shahdag ranges from winter lows of -20°C, -22°C to pleasant summer evenings of 15-20°C. Thus, it is not just a ski resort.

Tufandag complex provides visitors with skiing slopes and cable roads with a total length of 17 km with red, black and blue stripes. Ski pass for the day costs 20 manats (about $12), and a training lesson of ski riding is 35 manats (about $20). Similar prices are applied for services in Shahdag, which offers 12 lifts and 14 trails of varying difficulty - five "green" and "blue" and four "red".

In 2019, 3.17 million tourists from 194 countries visited Azerbaijan, and this indicates a 11.4 percent growth compared to the same period of 2018.