The VIII Azerbaijani International Travel Fair (AITF-2009) was held last week in Sport Complex named after Heydar Aliyev in Baku. The Minister of Tourism and Historical Monuments of Iraq Kakhtan Abbas Noman, the Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kilic, etc. attended the ceremony.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Azerbaijan's Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev said that tourism is the most dynamically developing sector in Azerbaijan. Over 300 hotels operate in Azerbaijan and 35 more are under construction. The infrastructure is being built and repaired. Two new airports were modernised last year. More and more foreign tourists visit Azerbaijan (there were 1.8 million in 2008). Economic crisis has affected the sector growth but minister believe it will still grow event at these hard times.

The Turkish Ambassador stressed in his speech that it is more important for Azerbaijan to raise quality standards for services at existing objects than build a lot of new tourist objects. He said 26 million tourists visited Turkey in 2008, owing to this country's good services and cheap prices. This was +13% against parameters in 2007. The state received $22 billion of income from tourism sector.

Nevertheless many guests recognised a serious progress in the development of tourism industry in Azerbaijan. A new Association of Travel Companies of Azerbaijan was established recently. The major objective of new organization is improving tourism climate in Azerbaijan. Tourism is a licensed business in Azerbaijan. There are 250 tourist companies operating today.