Florian Sengstschmid

How was your visit to Mumbai and what are key outcomes?

The visit to Mumbai last month was mainly to officially appoint Brandit as our representatives for our office here in India and for sustaining and developing further the relations we have built over the years, and also to invite media and travel trade. Mumbai visit was also for the final roadshow of the multi-city roadshow that we had mounted in India. It was actually a good point also to revisit Mumbai although connectivity is not as good as to Delhi, since Delhi has 11 flights per week to Baku, while Mumbai for the time being, has only three direct flights per week. 

But we see there is a huge demand, especially also from the areas around Mumbai and greater awareness about the destination now has taken Azerbaijan to a new level. Customers are asking for more specific experiences and we have passed the stage of Baku and Baku only.

There is a more diversified approach with travellers seeking nature, hiking and adventure. There is also more demand for business and wedding events. And we are participating here at BLTM in Delhi because the event segment is very important for Azerbaijan on the international scale.

How are you promoting Azerbaijan as an event destination?

Azerbaijan has proven to be a great host of international meetings and this year with CoP 29 in November we bring it to a new level of a mega event to be hosted in Baku. 

And we are very positive that this will be also not only a great event, but also an important topic for the future of the world as climate change is all around us. And for the first time in the climate change meeting, sustainability in tourism will be part of the CoP29 agenda in history. We are very happy that we managed to bring tourism to the official agenda and to make a signficant contribution towards addressing climate change in terms of tourism.

How has the year been so far in terms of Indian travellers?

By the end of July, Azerbaijan hosted 140,000 travellers from India. This is a 2.7-fold increase compared to last year. And I remember I put this a very bold number of 250,000 tourists in the beginning of this year, without having any backup. But I think this is in the reach and we are getting there. But again, it is not only about the number of travellers, but also about the quality and the experiences we have.

And this is something we are really focusing now to go more diversified and more specialised. I think this is our main task also for the remaining year and coming years to continue to diversify the product, to invite more families and solo travellers and expose them to new experiences. 

We recently opened an experience centre in Gobustan, it is an amazing complex next to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Gobustan. So, now visiting Gobustan is a full day activity with numerous experiences.

Where does India figure in your global markets?

India has now stabilised on the fourth place in the statistics of Azerbaijan

Business from India has now stabilised on the fourth place in the statistics of Azerbaijan. So is in the top five and has a significant contribution to tourism development.

Which are key segments of travellers from India to Azerbaijan?

If you split by tourist profile, more than 50 pc is in the corporate travel and MICE segments, with some events, birthdays and weddings. But we want to grow leisure and bring more families and individual travellers. We also want to have more Indian destination weddings in Azerbaijan.

How do you intend to grow the weddings business?

It will be through cooperation with wedding organisers and planners and also through media and communication through various platforms. We also want to bring Azerbaijan suppliers to meet with wedding planners so they can prepare for the Indian market requirements.