Bazaars, heritage and more: Azerbaijan Tourism CEO on reasons to visit

The Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB), the national body that supports Azerbaijan's growing tourism industry, is holding a three-city roadshow in India from September 9-13 and visiting Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. The event will bring together key travel industry leaders in the region to build valuable connections between the countries. In this interaction, CEO of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, Florian Sengstschmid, tells us why Azerbaijan is the place to visit and the various spots to go there. With a direct flight from Delhi and a simplified electronic visa procedure for Indian passport holders, tourism from India to Azerbaijan increased by 80% in 2019. The new initiatives are expected to improve Azerbaijan's ranking among countries with a high tourism contribution towards national GDP, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council 2018 Impact Report. It is forecast to be at 6% per annum over the course of the next 10 years ranking it amongst the world's top 20 high potential countries. This follows the launch of ATB's marketing campaign 'Take another look' which encourages travelers to discover Azerbaijan's hidden gems and aims to double current in-bound tourism by 2023.