No progress on health tourism strategy for Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan planned to have a new strategy for developing health tourism in 2018, but this has been delayed indefinitely. The country wants to develop health tourism, as it is not seasonal, and the length of overnight stays of tourists is greater at 12 days. Most health tourists are Russian, Kazakh and Uzbek citizens.

The number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan for therapeutic and recreation purposes will increase by 18% in 2019, claims the Association for Support of Medical and Thermal Tourism of Azerbaijan. But as a small 10-member association, it is not known how accurate this is, as no actual figures have been offered.

Between January-November 2018, the association claims the number of tourists who visited Azerbaijan for health purposes increased by 30% compared to the same period in 2017. Again, there is no source for these figures.

One specific hotel, Recreational Centre Naftalan Kapaz, a 4 star hotel with a spa and wellness centre, plus a medical centre says that in 2018, 45,000 tourists from over 70 countries visited. It specialises in renal diseases, genitourinary system problems, cardiovascular diseases, nervous system disorders as well as in gynaecological diseases and in dermatological conditions. Most health tourists are Russian, Kazakh and Uzbek citizens.

Azerbaijan had planned to have a new strategy for developing health tourism in 2018 but politics means that this has been delayed indefinitely. In the last decade the state has helped to develop and update health and thermal tourism resorts while modern medical and health centres have opened in Baku, Naftalan, Nakhchivan and other regions of the country.