The meeting was chaired by Mr. Akkan Mahmut, Member of the Board of MATTO, and moderated by Mr. Rufet Hajiyev, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Travel Agencies in Azerbaijan, Mr. Ruslan Guchen, President of the World Council for Health Tourism and President of the Association of Health and Thermal Tourism in Azerbaijan and a member of the Board of the Azerbaijani Business Confederation.

The meeting was attended by our sectoral representatives, Mr. Jihangir Badem, owner of Badem Tour, Mr. Izzet Savaryego, General Manager of Karadzi Tours, Mr. Serjan Kose – General Manager of DoubleTree by Hilton Skopje and Mr. Ramazanoglu-General Manager of LIMAK SKOPJE LUXURY HOTEL, Mr. Ugur Kelce, Representative of Turkish Airlines in Skopje and on behalf of Azerbaijan, Mr. Rufet Hajiyev, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Tourist Agencies, Ruslan Guliyev, Honorary President of the World Health Tourism Council and President of the Association for Health and Thermal Tourism in Azerbaijan and a member of the Board of the Azerbaijani Business Confederation.

The tourism sector worldwide has fallen sharply in 2020 due to the pandemic, with vaccination expected to advance in 2021. With the participation of the sectoral representatives of R.S.M. and leading travel agencies of Azerbaijan held consultations in order to inform the citizens of Azerbaijan about the tourist resources in the neighboring Balkan countries, especially the Republic of Northern Macedonia, as well as tourism promotion of Macedonia and the Balkan countries, and the development of cooperation between the two countries, especially in the tourism sector.

According to sector officials, these figures, which indicate only half of the sector’s performance before the pandemic, are expected to return to normal by the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022., Mr. Rufet Hajivev, Chairman of the Board of the Tourism Association According to his assessment, “Our goal is in 2021. to reach half of the numbers that were in 2019. It was stated that the first determinant of achieving this goal will be vaccination, and the second will be the decline in the number of cases in countries that send tourists to the Republic of North Macedonia and Azerbaijan.

Mr. Akan MAHMUT, owner of Karachi Tours, a member of MATTO’s Board of Directors, noted that despite the vaccination information, uncertainties still persist: the cake will be reduced, but those who will compete to get a share of this cake, will be much more aggressive .. the tourist wealth of the neighboring Balkan countries, especially Northern Macedonia, will contribute to the Azerbaijani tourists and the tourism sector.

The existing possibilities for the citizens of both countries to benefit from the tourist wealth of the neighboring Balkan countries, especially , were discussed in detail. and Azerbaijan. Satisfied with the detailed presentation, the leading travel agencies in Azerbaijan informed that they will present the tours to the neighboring Balkan countries to the citizens of Azerbaijan, including North Macedonia, and hope that the Azerbaijani tourists will visit these regions as soon as possible.

The next phase of this meeting will be the promotion of the tourist treasures of Azerbaijan to the travel agencies in RNM.