Global Health Tourism Forum was held in Baku
On April 23, 2019, 3rd Global Health Tourism Forum jointly organized by the Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs Confederation and the Azerbaijan Health and Thermal Tourism Support Association (AHTTSA) and with official support of the Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency was held in Baku and the 5th Global Health Tourism Council Assembly (GHTCA) has begun its work.
The event, titled “Global Health for all,” and was organized with attendance by heads of national health tourism organizations from 25 member states of the Global Health Tourism Council Assembly, MPs, representatives of Azerbaijani tourism community, relevant government agencies and the media.
Ruslan Guliyev, Chairman of the Global Health Tourism Council said that GHTCA was established on the base of the initiative of the Republic of Turkey at the International Medical Travel Conference in Monaco in 2013 and the forum has been held as the 4th summit of the organization, so far. The USA, the AFR, the UK, Turkey, Poland, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, the RF, Ukraine, Georgia, China, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other influential countries are among 60 members of the GHTCA.
Azerbaijan Health and Thermal Tourism Support Association represent Azerbaijan in the Global Health Tourism Council and is a member of the Board of Directors of the organization since 2014. In April 2018, at the next Summit of GHTCA was held in Turkey, Chairman of the AHTTSA Ruslan Guliyev was elected as a president of this international organization and the Republic of Azerbaijan has been approved as a country with the right to lead this credible organization.
Ruslan Guliyev also emphasized that a new chairman will be elected at the 5th Assembly of the organization and Baku Declaration will be adopted.
The President of the Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs Confederation Mammad Musayev said that deep reforms are underway in Azerbaijan and the purpose of these reforms is to improve the welfare of our citizens, to increase the economic power of our country, to have a diversified economy by reducing oil dependence and increase incomes from tourism as a main non-oil sector: “The development of the tourism industry is one of the priorities for Azerbaijan. On December 6, 2016 the Decree on “Strategic Road Map on the development of specialized tourism industry in the Republic of Azerbaijan”, signed by President Ilham Aliyev, emphasizes that by using effectively existing opportunity and potential, Azerbaijan will be able to be one of the attractive tourist destinations both in the region and among other countries by 2025. The prospect for the post-2025 period is to make the country one of the 20 most popular tourist destinations in the world”.
The President of the Confederation also noted that the health and thermal tourism industry, which is one of the special directions of tourism in Azerbaijan, has been developing in the recent years and hosting of the Global Health Tourism Forum in Baku is a proof of that.
Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of Small and Medium Business Development Agency said that several people travel for health purposes during a period of sustainable tourism development. There is a competition among the region countries for attracting these tourist flows. This competition is based primarily on economic priorities such as earning income, employment and currency flow into the country. It is possible to attract more tourists to the country by effectively using the potential of Azerbaijan in this field.
Kenan Gasimov, Head of Administration of the Azerbaijani Tourism Agency noted that health tourism has a very ancient history in our country, this history and the existing infrastructure allows us to achieve great successes in this area and to reach the flow of tourists from all over the world.
On their speeches Abil Agasiyev, the Chairman of the “Azercourt” Joint Stock Company, Academician Vagif Abbasov, Director of the Institute of Petrochemical Processes of ANAS, Akbar Novruzov, Chairman of the Tourism Department of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic were devoted mainly to the effective use of the potential of Azerbaijan in health tourism. It was also mentioned at the event that Naftalan oil, which is famous all over the world, is being used for the preparation of 15 type medicines, and it is possible to treat 70 diseases. Last year, 35,000 tourists from 62 countries came to Naftalan for treatment.
Emin Çakmak, Founder and Honorary Chairman of the Global Health Tourism Council said that he has visited several healthcare facilities in Azerbaijan and believes that there are unique opportunities in the country. “The realization of this forum in Baku will further promote Azerbaijan’s recognition in this field. For now, through social media all around the world is watching us. At the same time, the majority of the Council’s 58 member countries, including representatives from Russia, Germany, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Georgia and etc. are here. There can be no better propaganda. Azerbaijan is globally integrated into the health tourism industry”.
Then, the Azerbaijan Health and Thermal Tourism Support Association and the Institute of Petrochemical Processes of ANAS signed a memorandum of cooperation.
The Forum continued its work with panel discussions.
The Baku Declaration was adopted at the end of the forum.
At the end of the day, the chairmanship of the Global Health Tourism Council has passed from Azerbaijan to Ukraine. The President of the Ukrainian Medical Tourism Association Voletta Yanyshska will chair GHTCA next year.