Azerbaijan's winter tourism goals have been announced. The State Tourism Agency said that depending on the weather conditions in the country, the winter season usually starts from December 15.
As every year, this year, as the State Tourism Agency, our goal is to attract more foreign visitors to the country, to increase relevant promotional activities in the target markets, to expand the geography of the target countries, as well as to support the activity of the industry, to achieve the creation of new tourism products. As a whole, works on nature, cultural, health, gastronomic and other traditional tourism directions are continued in the winter season. 1,724,218 citizens of foreign countries visited the country from January to October of the current year. We predict that the number of visitors to Azerbaijan will reach two million by the end of the year. Also, as a continuation of the winter season, it is predicted that there will be an increase in January-March next year compared to this year. In general, it is aimed to increase the number of foreign visitors by 20 percent for the next year compared to this year..
Currently, 3 main winter tourism centers in the country - "Shahdag" Tourism Center, "Tufandag" Winter-Summer Tourism Complex and "Ağbulag" Recreation Center located in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic serve tourists.
Tourists from the CIS countries and the Middle East region mostly go to winter tourism destinations. Also, efforts are being made to ensure more visits by tourists from the European market. The existence of winter tourism centers with modern infrastructure creates conditions for holding international events on winter sports in our country. It should be noted that in 2024, Azerbaijan will host the Plenary Assembly of the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) and the international ski mountaineering competition.
As for the work related to winter tourism in the territories freed from occupation, it was noted that Kalbajar and Lachin regions have a wide potential for the development of winter tourism. Taking into account factors such as air temperature, number of rainy and snowy days, relief, mountain height and inclination in winter months, it can be considered appropriate to create winter tourism centers in these areas.
Especially taking into account the health tourism potential of Kalbajar, the parallel development of tourism resources around one area can create conditions for the attraction of tourists of different segments, as well as the formation of a tourism cluster of health tourism and mountain-ski centers, which are widely used in international practice. Currently, the tours organized to Shusha continue since March. In the near future, it is planned to organize touristic tours to Sugovushan recreation park and Talish village.