Travel And Tourism in Azerbaijan
Euromonitor International's Travel And Tourism in Azerbaijan report offers a comprehensive guide to the market at a national level. It looks at travel accommodation, transportation, car rental, tourist attractions and retail travel. It identifies the leading companies and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market, including background information on disposable income, annual leave and holiday taking habits.
Buy online to access strategic market analysis and an interactive statistical database of market size data for travel accommodation, transportation, car rental, travel retail, tourism attractions and health and wellness tourism, tourism inflows and outflows, tourism spending and company and brand shares.
Chapters: 8 | Tables: 37 | Publication date: Aug 2007
Why buy this report
- Get insight into trends in market performance
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change
- Identify market and brand leaders and understand the competitive environment
Product coverage
Airline capacity and utilisation; Arrivals by country of origin; Arrivals by mode of transport; Arrivals by purpose of visit; Car rental services by sector; Demand factors; Departures by destination; Departures by mode of transport; Departures by purpose of visit; Domestic tourism by destination; Domestic tourism by mode of transport; Tourism receipts and expenditure; Tourist attractions; Transportation; Travel accommodation; Travel retail services
Executive summary
Tourism Increasingly Important Part of the Azerbaijan Economy
Tourism is a small but increasingly important contributor to the economy of Azerbaijan, with tourism receipts amounting to AZM675 million in 2005 and expected to reach AZM730 million in 2006. This accounted for 5 to 6% of the country's GDP.
Performance Improves Due to Developments in the Oil Industry
Tourism in Azerbaijan improved considerably over the review period, witnessing a significant increase in international receipts from 2000 to 2005. At the same time outgoing tourism expenditure witnessed a gradual increase over the same period.
The main reason for the strong performance of tourism is the boom in the country's oil and gas industries, which has attracted foreign investment. This contributed greatly to the development of business tourism leading to significant improvements in travel accommodation and transportation infrastructure.
Marketing is Improving Slowly
Azerbaijan has all the ingredients to develop tourism especially if it capitalises on its position as a Silk Road country. Moreover, it can offer sunshine and beaches and ecological and historical tourism. Yet, there is little marketing of its attractions conducted outside of the country. Tourism is mostly represented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with very few players able to afford participation at major international travel fairs. Furthermore, there is a lack of marketing materials such as flyers, brochures, maps and post cards. There are guidebooks published by the Ministry each year; however, these contain mostly advertisements, with some information on the regions. On-line marketing remains underdeveloped. There are some good travel agency websites these are difficult to find. A major tourism website (www.tourism.az) is supposed to be the gateway to tourism in Azerbaijan; however, it holds very limited information and is hard to navigate.
All of the above factors hinder the country's attempts to attract international tourism. This, in turn, reflects negatively on the domestic tourism causing a loss of potential income. Moreover, due to the relative lack of information provided inside the country most business tourists rarely leave the capital. The Ministry is now working with the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) to improve internal marketing through the creation of information centres in a number of regions. A few centres are established, however, their self-sustainability is in question once the international funds are exhausted.
Car Rental Services Dominated by Foreign Companies and Consumers
Hertz and Avis opened representative services in Baku in 1998. Both companies started by offering their services mainly to the foreign community of workers in the oil industry. No independent tourist used to rent a car and travel alone as it was not completely safe in addition to poor road conditions and virtually no international signage. The gradually improving transport infrastructure led to increased car rental sales to individual tourists in 2005. However, the main market remains the foreign business community.
Moreover, a number of travel agencies have begun offering car rental services to attract customers. There are also two local, well-established car rental companies and each year new companies offer car rental services. However, these businesses close very quickly because they cannot compete with larger fleets and the more developed infrastructure of Hertz and Avis. The two international companies dominate car rental services in Azerbaijan, with Avis holding a slightly bigger share of sales than Hertz.
Internet sales of car rental services are expected to feature over the forecast period. It is estimated that internet sales of car rental services will show rapid growth from the outset. The bulk of sales, however, will continue to be made via cash or credit cards as the majority of sales occur from within the country. The increasing number of tourists to Azerbaijan will also impact car rental services positively over the forecast period. Car rental services will be dominated by big players, thereby limiting the impact of smaller companies.
Table of contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TOURISM INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT PART OF THE AZERBAIJAN ECONOMY
PERFORMANCE IMPROVES DUE TO DEVELOPMENTS IN THE OIL INDUSTRY
MARKETING IS IMPROVING SLOWLY
CAR RENTAL SERVICES DOMINATED BY FOREIGN COMPANIES AND CONSUMERS
KEY TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS
MARKET IS LIMITED TO BUSINESS TOURISTS
Outlook
Impact
OUTGOING TOURISM MORE POPULAR THAN DOMESTIC TOURISM
Outlook
Impact
WEAK MECHANISMS FOR INTERNAL COORDINATION
Outlook
Impact
INVESTMENT FLOWS CONCENTRATED IN BAKU
Outlook
Impact
TRAVEL ACCOMMODATION
MARKET SIZE AND OCCUPANCY RATES
ACCOMMODATION PREFERENCES OF TOURISTS
Incoming tourists
Domestic tourists
INTERNET SALES
PROSPECTS
TRANSPORTATION
DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT PREFERENCES
AIR TRAVEL
PAYMENT OPTIONS
PROSPECTS
TRAVEL RETAIL
NO SPECIALISATION AND TRAINING
GROWTH IN TRAVEL RETAIL COMPANIES
PRODUCT, PRICE, PROMOTION, PLACE
INTERNET SALES
PROSPECTS
MARKET DATA
Table 1 Length of Trip: 2000-2005
Table 2 Arrivals by Country of Origin: 2000-2005
Table 3 Arrivals by Method of Transport: 2000-2005
Table 4 Arrivals by Purpose of Visit: 2000-2005
Table 5 Departures: 2000-2005
Table 6 Departures by Destination: 2000-2005
Table 7 Departures by Mode of Transport: 2000-2005
Table 8 Departures by Purpose of Visit: 2000-2005
Table 9 Domestic Trips by Mode of Transport: 2000-2005
Table 10 Incoming Tourist Receipts: 2000-2005
Table 11 Incoming Tourist Receipts % Growth: 2000-2005
Table 12 Outgoing Tourism Expenditure: 2000-2005
Table 13 Outgoing Tourism Expenditure % Growth: 2000-2005
Table 14 Domestic Tourist Expenditure: 2000-2005
Table 15 Forecast Arrivals by Country of Origin: 2005-2010
Table 16 Forecast Arrivals by Method of Transport: 2005-2010
Table 17 Forecast Departures: 2005-2010
Table 18 Forecast Departures by Destination: 2005-2010
Table 19 Forecast Departures by Mode of Transport: 2005-2010
Table 20 Forecast Incoming Tourist Receipts: 2005-2010
Table 21 Forecast Domestic Tourist Expenditure: 2005-2010
Table 22 Forecast Outgoing Tourism Expenditure: 2005-2010
SECTOR DATA
Table 23 Hotels: Units 2000-2005
Table 24 Regional Hotel Parameters 2005
Table 25 Travel Accommodation Sales by Sector: Value 2000-2005
Table 26 Forecast Hotels: Units 2005-2010
Table 27 Forecast Travel Accommodation Sales by Sector: Value 2005-2010
Table 28 Transportation Sales by Sector: Value 2000-2005
Table 29 Forecast Transportation Sales by Sector: Value 2005-2010
Table 30 Car Rental Sales: Value 2000-2005
Table 31 Forecast Car Rental Sales: Value 2005-2010
Table 32 Travel Retail Outlets: Units 2000-2005
Table 33 Travel Retail Sales: 2000-2005
Table 34 Forecast Travel Retail Outlets: Units 2005-2010
Table 35 Forecast Travel Retail Sales: 2005-2010
Table 36 Tourist Attractions: Value 2000-2005
Table 37 Forecast Tourist Attractions: Value 2005-2010
DEFINITIONS
TRAVEL AND TOURISM
DEMAND FACTORS
Length of trip
TOURISM PARAMETERS
Arrivals
Departures
Outgoing tourism expenditure
Domestic tourists
Domestic trips
Domestic tourist expenditure
TRAVEL ACCOMMODATION
Hotels
Other travel accommodation
Number of bed nights
Occupancy rates
Number of rooms and beds
TRANSPORTATION
Air
Other transportation
CAR RENTAL
TRAVEL RETAIL
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
INTERNET SALES