Azerbaijan seeks to attract Kuwaiti tourists

/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

For the past few years, Azerbaijan has begun to attract more Arab tourists, who found vacationing in this sunny Caucasus country more congenial and interesting.

The rest in Azerbaijan, also known as a Land of Fire, is more preferable for many Arabian nations because of the stability in the region, its cuisine with halal food, hospitality and relatively proximity of cultures and religions.

They are also looking to Azerbaijan as an attractive destination for a relatively new pleasure as hunting, which has already become one of the loved entertainments for many Arabs. Some experts believe that these visits create an opportunity for developing hunting tourism in the country.

Emirati tourists are among the ones most travelling to Azerbaijan for hunting. If in 2007, Azerbaijan was visited by only 150 tourists from the UAE, then in 2014 the number increased up to 800 people.

Currently, Azerbaijan is keen to attract more tourists from Arab countries, since along with all, they are still the most wasteful tourists in the world.

Azerbaijan’s desire to attract more tourists from the Gulf countries was also voiced by Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev during his Kuwait visit.

To expand relations in culture and tourism spheres Abulfaz Garayev met Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Homoud Al-Sabah, Kuwait Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs in Kuwait City.

Sheikh Salman, who is also the chairman of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature, stressed the need for the exchange of experiences between the two countries and strengthen the Azerbaijani-Kuwaiti relations in culture and tourism.

Garayev, in turn, expressed his satisfaction with the depth of relations between Azerbaijan and the countries of Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG).

He further stated that Azerbaijan strives to attract Gulf tourists through opening the national airspace for CCASG-country airlines.

Last May, Azerbaijan and Kuwait signed an aviation agreement, aiming at boosting commercial cooperation in between a number of airlines from both countries to facilitate passenger traffic.

Among the Gulf countries, Kuwait is a country that is located closer to Azerbaijan. Earlier, Kuwaiti Ambassador Saud Al-Roumi told local media that if a direct flight is launched between the two countries, the flight duration will be one hour and fifty minutes. But at present, Kuwait visitors have to fly to Azerbaijan through Dubai and Doha.

Azerbaijan and Kuwait, establishing diplomatic relations since 1994 are bond with traditional, historical, religious and cultural ties, as well as the geographical position.