(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Abbas Ganbay Read more
Until problems such as global warming and climate change
appeared, the world economy saw its entire development perspective
as fundamentally dependent on oil. Many countries were already
moving towards industrialization, and places for recreation such as
tourism were shrinking.
But as the problem facing the world became more serious, it
became necessary to look for new ways to expand economic
opportunities. Of course, the healthiest and safest way to do this
is to expand tourism opportunities.
Azerbaijan is among the countries that have tourism
opportunities and have great prospects in this field in the near
future. Of course, the liberation of more than 20 per cent of the
territories from occupation and the infrastructure projects
established in those territories have a great impact on the
development of this sector.
According to statistics, Azerbaijan received more than 1.3
million travellers between January and August 2023. The report says
that the increase in the inflow of tourists to Azerbaijan should
reach 4 million people by 2026. Tourism in Azerbaijan has increased
by 50% compared to the previous year, and by the end of the year is
expected to restore the inflow of tourists to 80%. However, a part
of the development of tourism also belongs to land borders. In any
case, until the situation with closed land borders is resolved, a
significant part of the tourist flow through this route will not
enter Azerbaijan.
Ongoing construction works on the revitalisation of the
liberated lands will bring a great contribution to the tourism
sector as well. Many experts and specialists in different fields
and activities have got jobs in the liberated lands for about 2.5
thousand people.
Besides, from a tourism point of view, the nature of the north
and west of Azerbaijan is very picturesque where many festivals
have been held so far. The construction of the railway to the area
is in the future plan and as soon, as railway communication lines
are built, the inflow of tourists to the north-western parts of
Azerbaijan will almost double.
In January-October 2023, 108,516 tourists from Central Asian
countries visited Azerbaijan, which is 85 per cent higher than the
figure for the same period in 2022 (58,707).
The number of tourists from Kazakhstan was 47,867 (up 88 per
cent year-on-year), Uzbekistan 31,416 (up 52 per cent
year-on-year), Turkmenistan 20,915 (up 166 per cent year-on-year),
Kyrgyzstan 4,454 (up 76 per cent year-on-year) and Tajikistan 3,864
(up 79 per cent year-on-year).
Shusha as the capital of the cultural heritage of the Turkic
world unites Turkic peoples in Azerbaijan. These statistics of the
inflow of tourists from Central Asian countries are largely due to
the events held in Azerbaijan on the 30th TURKSOY. Azerbaijan has
always supported TURKSOY by implementing large-scale projects
related to the protection and promotion of the common Turkic
heritage and has tried to expand the cultural integration of
Turkic-speaking countries.
It should be noted that a total of 1,724,218 tourists visited
Azerbaijan during the reporting period (30% growth).
It should be recalled that a total of 1,602,600 foreign citizens
visited Azerbaijan in 2022, which is more than 2 times higher than
in 2021 (790,062 people), as well as 73,823 people from Central
Asian countries, which is 4.75 times higher than in 2021 (15,516
people).
The development of relations among Turkic countries has also
increased the flow of tourists from the brotherly countries to
Azerbaijan.
President Ilham Aliyev's speech at the 10th Congress of
Friendship, Brotherhood and Cooperation of Turkic States and
Communities held in Antalya in 2006 caused great resonance in the
Turkic world. At the event, the Azerbaijani leader stressed that
the process of globalisation is underway in the world. At the same
time, there are enough issues of discrimination.
Turkic peoples need to become more united and hold on to each
other more firmly in order to become stronger. Today the Turkic
world has a huge potential, all Turkic states led by Turkiye are
developing intensively from the political-economic point of view,
in all other respects.
It should be noted that a total of 411,141 people visited
Azerbaijan from Central Asian countries in 2017-2022 (from
Kazakhstan - 167,052, Turkmenistan - 119,201, Uzbekistan - 96,278,
Kyrgyzstan - 15,467, Tajikistan - 13,143).
What does the future hold for the tourism
industry?
International tourism is doing very well and is almost back to
pre-pandemic levels. This means that more people are travelling
around the world than before the pandemic. In the first three
months of 2023, 235 million people travelled internationally, more
than double the same period in 2022. In 2022, 960 million people
travelled internationally, two-thirds of the pre-pandemic
figures.
The Middle East was the only region where the number of
travellers was higher than before the pandemic. People spent more
than one trillion dollars on international tourism in 2022, up 50
per cent from 2021. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation
(UNWTO) expects international arrivals to reach 80-95% of
pre-pandemic levels in 2023. However, there are challenges such as
economic issues, geopolitical tensions and rising costs.
Global problems often come from the West. The UN's sustainable
development agenda, zero emissions, climate change, sustainable
travel futures, and personal carbon credits (passports), will deal
a huge blow to the economy, tourism, agro-culture, agriculture and
other equally important industries.
A report on the future of travel and tourism, co-authored by
travel agency Intrepid Travel and The Future Labs Institute, argues
that the future will be heavily impacted by climate change and
travel restrictions to combat it.
"A Sustainable Future for Travel" warns of "travel extinction".
, with some areas suffering such drastic climate change that all
tourism there will cease, and of "personal carbon credits" that
will limit the frequency of authorised travel."
Western countries, like those in Scandinavia, are undergoing
enormous changes in society and citizens. The programmes being
promoted have deprived many people of land, homes, and businesses
small and large, and it is important to be warned, that the WEF,
EU, and UN programmes may affect Azerbaijan as well.
Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakušić in the EU Parliament: EU uses
#ClimateScam (Climate change) as an excuse to take agricultural
land from farmers with the ultimate goal of creating deliberate
food shortages.
Remember that starving and desperate people are far more likely
to submit to tyranny in exchange for enough calories to avoid death
than people with ready access to an abundance of food, even if the
source of those calories is insects or fake, lab-grown "meat."
Carbon passports
If conscience and budget allow, we can fly freely on aeroplanes
from one place to another. But that will change. "On our current
trajectory, we can expect to see a decline in the frequency of
people travelling as carbon passports change the travel landscape,"
says Martin Raymond, co-founder of Future Laboratories.
These permits will manifest as passports that will force people
to ration their carbon emissions in line with the global carbon
budget, which is 750 billion tonnes by 2050.
For all practical purposes, your carbon emissions will match
your energy consumption, give or take a relatively narrow
efficiency range (unless we have some kind of clean energy
breakthrough, and the only viable option we have, nuclear power, is
not considered clean) climate cult energy.
In other words, your standard of living is your energy
consumption. Reducing society's energy consumption is the same as
reducing your standard of living.
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