Tourism

Tourism

Abulfas Garayev: â€œOver 1.4 million tourists came to Azerbaijan in 2008â€

23 April 2009 12:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ulkar Gasimova â€“ APA. â€œThe analyses made on the outcomes of 2008 showed that despite the serious world financial crisis, the number of tourists, who came to Azerbaijan in 2008 increased by 39.4 percent compared with 2007 and exceeded 1.4 million,â€ Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev said at the Cabinetâ€™s meeting on the outcomes of the first quarter, APA reports. The Minister said there were 230 tourism companies, 370 hotels and hotel-type facilities in the republic.
â€œThe number of hotels increased by 16.9 percent in 2008 compared with 2007. 35 hotels are being built now. To promote tourism potential of our republic we participated in 7 international tourism fairs in the first quarter of 2009. Broadcasting of commercials about Azerbaijanâ€™s tourism potential on CNN and EuroNews has become a tradition,â€ he said.

Abulfas Garayev said the state paid special attention to both culture and tourism.
â€œ11.7 percent more money has been allocated to culture and tourism in 2009 compared with last year. Compared with 2006, budget expenditures for Culture and Tourism Ministry were increased by 3.7 percent in 2009. Investment for reconstruction and projection increased by 8 times,â€ he said.

Abulfas Garayev said the ministry published over 100 books about Azerbaijanâ€™s culture, art and tourism in 2006-2008.