In the post-pandemic period, the Azerbaijan Hotel Association plans to, at least partially, reach the success of the previous years, Chairman of the board of the Association Samir Dubandi told Trend.

The tourism sector of Azerbaijan has completely dropped to zero, Dubandi said.

The main reasons are the closure of borders, the suspension of the visa issuance process, the cessation of movement between countries, as well as the quarantine regime in the country, which has recently been tightened, he added.

"Before the recent changes in the rules of the special quarantine regime, the country's regional hotels were ready to receive guests at least on weekends. However, following the introduction of toughened quarantine on weekends in June, it has become even tougher," said the chairman.

"The epidemiological and quarantine situation in the country doesn’t allow talking about any activities in the near future. The hotels weren’t suspended at the legislative level. However, given the fact that the main customers of the hotel were foreign citizens, it can be said that hotels suffer a significant drop in their income and net profit," he said.

"There are currently over 700 hotels, hostels and motels in the country. It is impossible to say that all these hotels will survive, as not every hotel is able to withstand such economic damage and is forced to stop its activities," added Dubandi.

Touching upon the activities of restaurants, Dubandi noted that 27,000 restaurants, cafes and other catering facilities across the country restricted their activities, but continued to operate within unusual conditions, namely, through 'take aways'.

The restaurants were the worst-hit areas by the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector, and the central restaurants in large cities were completely closed, with no chance of recovery, the chairman said.

The Azerbaijan Hotel Association is a non-profit organization supporting and promoting the interests of the hotel and restaurant business in Azerbaijan. It was established and registered by the Ministry of Justice in 2009.