Azerbaijan is hoping to boost its tourism profile in Europe after signing a partnership deal with ITB Berlin.
The destination, which hosted the Eurovision Song Contest this year amid criticisms of its human right policies, has been named as the convention and culture partner for ITB’s 2013 show. Its tourism offering will be one of the leading destinations at the Berlin show, with the ever-growing Indonesia as the official partner country.
“In addition to the oil industry, which is already a major economic factor, we are also focusing our attention on developing tourism”, says Abulfas Garayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Culture and Tourism. “For us this partnership with ITB Berlin is a very important instrument for effectively promoting the tourism potential of Azerbaijan. This year the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku attracted enormous media attention, presenting our country’s modern image around the world”.
Hotels, tourism product and Baku’s city centre were given a boost on the run-up to Eurovision.
