Tourism Strategy and Infrastructure Azerbaijan

What

SW Associates, LLC, was contracted by the US Trade and Development Agency to conduct a Definitional Mission (DM) to analyze the tourism and related infrastructure sectors in Azerbaijan and Georgia. The DM focused on (a) the evaluation of two proposed projects in Azerbaijan — a Baku airport hotel and a tourism master plan — and (b) the identification of potential projects for which USTDA and other potential financing sources might provide technical assistance or feasibility study funding in both Azerbaijan and Georgia.

In Azerbaijan, we recommended that USTDA provide technical assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan in the form of co-financing a sustainable tourism development strategy for the country.

We also reviewed the following projects related to tourism infrastructure in Azerbaijan:

1) Airport hotel
2) Expansion of hotel and meeting facilities at the Grand Hotel Europe
3) Improvement of the AMEX train
4) Environmental management planning and technology for the tourism coastal
region of Nabran.

Related to these areas of need, we also recommended improvements in data collection and thus tourism statistics systems.

Results:

USTDA co-financed a new national tourism strategy and master plan for the country, which was being implemented and involved these other areas of need.