By Rasana Gasimova

Azerbaijan presented it tourism potential at the International Mediterranean Tourism Market 2020 (IMTM 2020) exhibition held in Tel-Aviv on February 11-12.

The country's tourism companies participated in the exhibition with the organizational support of the State Tourism Agency and the Azerbaijan Tourism Board.

Azerbaijan was represented at the exhibition by the 80 square meters stand, as well as four hotels, three tour operators and the Mountain Jews Museum, State Tourism Agency reported.

Bahruz Asgarov, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Azerbaijan Tourism Board said that in recent years, Israel has been showing particular interest in Azerbaijan.

“We can confidently say that the indicators will increase even more, because the vast tourism potential, the ancient Jewish heritage in Azerbaijan, as well as friendly relations between the two nations create great opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation,” he said.

Rufat Sadikhov, Regional Manager in International Markets Management Department at Azerbaijan Tourism Board emphasized that information tours for representatives of a number of Israeli media and travel agencies were organized in 2019, and promotional events will continue this year.

He noted that health tourism is one of the main types of tourism that Israeli tourists are interested in and for this reason more intensive measures will be taken in health tourism destinations, such as Galaalty, Duzdag, Naftalan, etc.

As part of the visit, the presentation of the Mountain Jews Museum was held. Speaking at the event, the executive director of the museum Igor Shaulov noted that the museum created in Guba is already operating on a trial basis and it will officially open in the near future.

Note that Krasnaya Sloboda - the Jewish settlement located in Guba has been preserved for centuries as one of the most obvious examples of multiculturalism.

Azerbaijan’s Tourism Board is preparing a tourist route covering Baku, Guba, Oguz, Ismayilli and other regions where the Jewish heritage exists.

The exhibition hosted B2B meetings with local and international travel agencies, as well as Israeli travel agencies and they assessed the opportunities for cooperation.

Note that in 2019, the number of Israeli citizens visiting Azerbaijan amounted to 47,000 people, which is 66.8 percent more compared to 2018. In January 2020, 1,722 Israeli citizens visited in Azerbaijan, which is 158 percent more compared to the same period in 2019.

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