ambitions
BIG FUELLING GROWTH
As one of the world’s largest oil producers, Azerbaijan has both wealth and ambition. Professor Terry Stevens investigates its tourism potential, the luxury developers targeting its capital and the 2020 Olympic Bid PROFESSOR TERRY STEVENS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF STEVENS & ASSOCIATES
capital of Azerbaijan on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula. The city is attracting the attention of Hyatt, Hilton, Fairmont, Marriott, Kempinski, Four Seasons and Starwood Hotels & Resorts – all of which are being drawn to this dynamic boomtown, where sparkling limousines and skyscrap- ers form the backdrop to an ancient walled city that’s listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Baku, which has a population of
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around 2 million, has a rich history as part of a country that has straddled the territories of competing Arab, Persian, Turkish and Russian empires over the last two millennia. It gained independence in 1991 fol- lowing the fall of the Soviet Union and today global inter- est has been stimulated by the extensive oil resources under- lying the Caspian Sea, together with the phenomenon of oil oozing out of the ground creating natural oil fi res on the peninsula. In 2007 and 2008, Azerbaijan was the world’s largest oil producer. Modern living in the city has fl ourished, which gives the ancient metropolis a cosmopolitan feel with a strong business tourism market. Tourism is rapidly becoming an
important part of the economy of Azerbaijan, although accurate sta- tistics are elusive. Estimates by
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he charge into the Caucasus by international hotels brands is heav- ily focused on Baku, the
American Express suggest that in 2003-2004 the country was host- ing over one million tourist arrivals, mostly from near neighbour countries. The UN World Tourism Organization is currently working with the Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism to rec- tify the lack of statistics.
FOCUSING ON TOURISM The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, established in 1953, is the govern- ment agency that oversees all aspects of tourism development. Initially responsible for cultural preserva- tion, its focus shifted over time to the development of resorts until the col- lapse of the Soviet Union – the Soviet
– suggested a Rapid Assessment Strategy for tourism development. Over the past eight years, the min-
istry has increasingly focused on creating an environment where inter- national investment in tourism can fl ourish, including the building of core infrastructure and enhancing hospital- ity skills and human capacity. Today, its priorities are based on shaping Azerbaijan as an elite destination for spa and wellness tourism with a com- plementary strand of development focusing on religious tourism. This national strategy has highlighted the Absheron Peninsula and, especially, the vibrant city of Baku as the hub of the strategy.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is focused on shaping Azerbaijan into an elite destination for spa tourism
was a key market – and the Nagorno- Karabakh civil war in the 1990s which crippled the fl edgling tourism industry. The sector began to pick up pace once more in the early 2000s, with the 2002 Mission by the UN World Tourism Organization which successfully nur- tured and whetted the government’s appetite for developing international leisure and business tourism. On the back of this in 2004, Azerbaijan’s Citizens Development Corps (CDC) – under the auspices of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
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INVESTMENT SURGE By mid-2000, there were around 100 hotels in Azerbaijan, mostly concen- trated in Baku and the two other major cities of Ganja and Sheki. At the top end
these were comparable to hospital- ity standards expected in western destinations. In the past three to fi ve years, however, there’s been an investment surge signalled by the early appearance of brands such as Hyatt and Radisson, as well as locally- owned boutique hotels such as Hotel Meridian and Diplomat. 2011 was no exception to the activ-
ity. The 159-bedroom Park Hyatt invested US$330,000 (£187,000) on refurbishing its spa that forms part of the hotel’s three-storey Club Oasis
ISSUE 2 2012 © cybertrek 2012
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