Tourism Association points to gaps in management

/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

Tourism is a large industry worldwide and a major sector in economy of many countries. Tourism management, accordingly, is an important feature directly impacting the tourist flow into a country.

In light of the recent devaluation of the national currency, the manat, many have put aside travel plans, as all industry sectors, including tourism have seen slow-down.

However, Muzaffar Agakerimov, Advisor to the Chairman of Azerbaijan Tourism Association sees the reason for slow-down in the travel agencies’ activity in a poorly organized management.

Good tourism management can provide a strong impetus for the attraction of foreign tourists to any country, he believes.

“A company, which carries out a correct forecasting and planning, can get out of any unfavorable economic situation. After the devaluation of the manat, outbound tourism has been reduced in Azerbaijan. But with good management, the country could get out of this situation,” the specialist said.

One of the main problems in this sphere, according to Agakerimov is that hotels and major travel companies operating in Azerbaijan mainly involve foreign experts in the management, but forget to increase the professionalism of local staff.

“Brand hotels have been operating in Azerbaijan since 1995. Although more than 20 years have passed, few local staff is working in the 5-star hotels. Is it normal? In fact, foreign experts had to train local personnel, and then these trained people should be in the management, ” he said.

Akakerimov further noted that candidates for management positions in the four- and five-star hotels and major travel companies should be accepted through the competitive review, which will help identify the good experts.

“This will promote the development of tourism management, including the entire tourism industry in Azerbaijan,” he said.

Currently 284 travel agencies and 535 hotels are operating in the country. The country can accommodate over 35,000 tourists in its 530 hotels, which include a series of luxury hotels, as well as many budget hotels for cost-conscious travelers. Prices for accommodation in the country start from $15 and increase depending on the hotel class and amenities provided.

Commenting on the slow down in tourism, a worker at Detour travel agency said that some travel companies close their offices because of low demand.

“Since majority of tickets and hotels are booked in euros and USD, it’s disadvantageous for the population, who are paid in the manats, to travel abroad,” she said.

The specialist claimed that to attract national tourists the travel company carries out several campaigns, but it mostly concerns ticket prices, excluding discounts for food and luggage.

“Some countries have already lowered their tariffs. We also look forward to lower prices on the domestic tourism,” she emphasized.

Director of the Flame Travel Company Shahmar Asgarov, for his part, said that tourism is developing in high speed in the world and ups and downs is natural on this way.

“The main reason for poor development of the national tourism management is that students having graduate in tourism management do not know practice as better as the theory. And today we can clearly see that only 30 percent of workers in this sphere have tourism education,” he explained.

Another reason is expensive prices and poor service, Asgarov said, noting that this will be fixed in the course of time.

Asgarov agreed with the fact that the number of outbound tourism sharply declined, but noted that local tourists now interested in domestic tourism. However, sometimes the price of the domestic tourism places is higher than the ones abroad, he added.

Asgarov, voicing hope for further development of local tourism, stressed that elimination of the license for travel agencies will be a good impetus for the strong development of this sector.