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Caspian’s Biggest Business Tourism Event Comes To Azerbaijan

By Ilham Karimli January 25, 2020

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The state-of-the-art Convention Center in Baku will take in "Travel Business Azerbaijan 2020" on April 29, 2020 / METSL Project Management

Officials in Azerbaijan are expecting the tourism industry to reach the next milestone after the record-breaking 3 million tourist arrivals in 2019 as the country’s capital city is getting ready to welcome thousands of guests for the region’s biggest-ever tourism trade event this April.

Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency and Azerbaijan Tourism Board will co-organize the “Travel Business Azerbaijan 2020” conference in the capital city of Baku on April 29, according to a statement issued by the agency on Thursday. The flamboyant Baku Convention Center will be the epicenter for B2B meetings, seminars, and exhibitions with around 400 tourism professionals, as well as key players from 50 countries in attendance. 

“The event, which will be held for the first time in Azerbaijan, comes as the region's largest travel market,” reads the statement published to Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency’s website.

“The purpose of the event is to create partnerships and opportunities for cooperation between local and foreign tourism companies and to stimulate the development of mutual relations. “Travel Business Azerbaijan 2020” will also act as an important platform to promote tourism opportunities in the country.”

Around 500 local tourism exhibitors will showcase 1,200 travel products to 400 international and local buyers during the one-day event.

“Travel Business Azerbaijan 2020” is the next large-scale tourism conference to take place in Baku following the Azerbaijan Tourism Summit 2019, another big event that was held last November. The summit featured dozens of local and international tourism professionals for discussing the development, marketing, and promotion of travel to and within Azerbaijan. 

The tourism industry was one of the most profitable non-oil industries in Azerbaijan in 2019. The overall consumption expenditure made by around 3.2 million tourists accounted for 4.3 billion Azerbaijan manats or $2.5 billion last year, while the total number of tourist arrivals in 2019 exceeded the figures of 2018 by 20 percent.

Tourism in Azerbaijan gained significant momentum in 2018 when the Azerbaijan Tourism Board introduced the all-new national tourism representative offices in 6 countries, including in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, and India. Four new offices will reportedly be opened in the coming years, with two stationed in the United Kingdom and South Korea. The main task of the representative offices is to step into a greater market from the Far East to Europe by promoting Azerbaijan’s tourism potential and opportunities.