Azerbaijan is considering visa-on-arrival facility for Qatar residents, a senior official of the Eurasian country has disclosed.
Azerbaijan, known for its beautiful landscape and ancient culture, has also witnessed huge growth in the number of tourists from Qatar in the recent years. The number of visitors from Qatar went up from 83 in 2010 to 12,459 in 2018.
“We have on-arrival facility for Qatar citizens and Azerbaijani citizens also get the same facility in Qatar. Now, we are considering on-arrival visa system for the residents of several countries including Qatar,” said Kanan Guluzada, head of media and public relations officer, State Tourism Agency, Azerbaijan.
He was speaking to a group of journalists from Qatar who recently visited Azerbaijan to get a firsthand experience with the tourism opportunities and activities that the country offers for the visitors.
However, the official did not give a specific time frame for the implementation of the new facility. Fidan Aliyeva, brand and marketing director, Azerbaijan Tourism Board and Florian Sengstschmid, CEO Azerbaijan Tourism Board also spoke with the visiting journalists.
“Qatar is a very important country for us.We have very well established relations with Qatar. Moreover, we have direct flights from Doha to Baku –twice daily and it is very easy to combine trips to Georgia too. We have very good road connectivity between Baku and Tiblisi and tourists can make use of it,” said the official. 
“As for the tourism perspectives from Qatar, we are involved in several activities. In July 20018, several Qatari bloggers visited Azerbaijan. The aim of the visit was to get familiarised with Azerbaijan, its culture and tourism potential. They visited some of the important places in our country which has been instrumental in making many people visit the country subsequently,” said Aliyeva. 
“Middle East is an important market for us and we have very recently come up with our new brand and identity. We are planning to open representative offices in the Middle East. As for Qatar, we are working on a B2B basis through different agencies. We are arranging roadshows for different groups of people such as journalists, influencers among others. We are also promoting awareness about the country,” added Aliyeva.
Azerbaijan recently launched its five year national tourism strategy as the country is diversifying its economy. An Azerbaijani perfume shop was opened in the Doha Festival City recently to familiarise the perfumes of Azerbaijan as part of the awareness programme.
Related Story