The tourism sector in Azerbaijan has great potential for development. The country’s stable socio-economic conditions, membership in the World Tourism Organization since 2001, participation in the transcontinental “Silk Road” tourism line organized by UNESCO, and the recently signed oil agreements provide an excellent framework for attracting investment to the tourism sector and increasing the flow of tourists to the country.

Azerbaijan has the major recourses of the industry of tourism: a natural landscape, monuments of material culture, modern tourist complexes. The nine climatic zones ensure that tourists can travel to the country throughout the year. There is abundant flora and fauna in Azerbaijan’s seventeen nature reserves. Over four thousand plants and animals can be found in Qizilaqach, Zagatala, Kirgan and Shirvan preserves where 13 million year old Tugai forests still flourish.

Azerbaijan is a treasure trove of cultural monuments. Over six thousand architectural and cultural objects are scattered throughout the country. The Chiraqqala, Didvan and Absheron rocks are impressive natural monuments. There are rock paintings, primitive dwellings and rock tombs in Koyukdash, Kichikdash, Jinqirdash, Shonqardaq and Shixqaya mountains. The lasting vestiges of Caucasus Albanian history may be viewed in the fortresses located in the village of Leki, Qum and Orta Zeyzit. The country features many architectural achievements of Azerbaijani builders and craftsmen including the 12th century Gulustan palace near the village of Shamakhi, the 13th century Qarabaqlar tombs near Karabakh and the palaces of the Sheki kings near the village of Sheki.

Baku, the capital, also has impressive architectural and historical features such as the Old City, the 15th century Karavansaray building, the 11th century Siniq Qala, the 12th century Bayil rocks, and one of Azerbaijan’s outstanding historical monuments the “Shirvan shahlar Sarayi”, a palace complex of the kings of Shirvan, which is on UNESCO’s list of historical monuments of the world. The Maiden Tower created by the master craftsman Masud ibn Davud is the symbol of Baku. The city is a thriving cosmopolitan center with modern buildings, museums, theatres, hotels and restaurants offering traditional and international cuisine. It is particularly impressive during the Ramadan, Novruz and Qurban holidays.

Fine places to rest are the Khudat-Yalama seacoast with the woods almost reaching the sea and the seashores of Absheron and Lankaran. In these places there are fine sandy beaches, and the water temperature is steadily kept within five or more months in limits of 22-26°C, this provides a rather long swimming season. The most attractive areas for alpinism and winter sports are Shamakhi and Gusar. Many kinds of animals and birds are objects of license hunting, and in the reserves they are very easy to see, thus it’s very easy to take photos of them. In Azerbaijan there are numbers of health-resorts with spas that give an opportunity for treating many illnesses yielding to natural therapy. Most resorts with mineral spas are also the tourist centres. Nakhchivan is especially rich with mineral resources; the only deposit of medical oil in the world –Naftalan –is completely unique.

Sport in Azerbaijan is much respected by both the old and the young. Sport is an integral part of life of the Azerbaijani nation. Many various kinds of games and competitions, which were moving from generation to generation, exist here. There are rich traditions of riding, wrestling, and different kinds of heavy and light athletics, chess and other intellectual games. Many Azerbaijani sportsmen wrote eminent pages into the history of the world sport. It is impossible to imagine the palaces and streets of Baku, other cities and settlements, where the boys do not play football and other sports. The same as in many other countries, the streets are empty when the World and European football championships are broadcast in the Republic or when they are reporting from the Olympic Games. It is a real holiday for many sport amateurs.

Since the day of Azerbaijan’s independence, Azerbaijani sportsmen have been taking a much more active part in international sports competitions. In 1995 only 165 sportsmen took part in different world and European competitions, but in the following year this number increased to 412. In 1995 Azerbaijani sportsmen won 22 gold, 15 silver and 27 bronze medals in international competitions and in 1996 21 gold, 17 silver and 28 bronze medals.

Azerbaijan was for the first time represented by an independent team in the Olympic Games held in Atlanta in 1996. Namig Abdullayev, a wrestler, won a silver medal. In 1995 he became a European champion, in 1996 a bronze prize-winner and in 1997 a silver prize-winner of the European championship.

Achievements by women in sports in Azerbaijan are of special importance. Along with all traditional female sports, Azerbaijani women also participate in a form of sumo wrestling and excel at shooting. Zulfiyya Hasanova became a world champion in sumo wrestling in 1995 and 1996, a European champion in 1995 and a silver prize-winner of the 1997 European championship, while Zemfira Meftaheddinova has had remarkable achievements in shooting. She took first place in team competitions in the European championship in 1990. Later, in 1996, she broke the record while taking first place in the European championship.

Chess is also very popular in Azerbaijan. Following in the footsteps of world champion Gary Kasparov, who was a native of Baku, there have been Aynur Sofiyeva, Firuza Velikhanli and Ilaha Gadimova, who all achieved impressive results.

In 2000, Azerbaijan participated in the Olympic Games staged in Sydney. Azerbaijani sportsmen won two gold medals and one bronze medal. Zemfira Meftahaddinova and Namig Abdullayev both won gold medals in skeet shooting and in freestyle wrestling respectively. The young athlete Vugar Alakbarov won a bronze medal in boxing. In the Sydney Olympic Games with participation of the teams from 199 countries, Azerbaijan took 34th place, leaving behind many big sport empires. The Azerbaijani team represented by 31 athletes among 11,000 participants won two gold medals and one bronze medal. The Olympic Games in Sydney showed that nothing is impossible in Azerbaijani sport and everything is a logical result of the purposeful and hard work.

2003 was the most productive year for medals. Azerbaijani sportsmen won 188 medals in various important competitions. Azerbaijani sportsmen have reached approximately 40 licenses to participate in the Olympic Games in Athens in such sports as free-style and Greco-Roman wrestling, boxing, shooting, taekwondo, judo, fencing, athletics, and weightlifting.

Close cooperation of the National Olympic Committee with the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Tourism, attention to sport development, construction of the modern sportive buildings in the Republic meeting all the world standards, Olympic Centers in Baku and in Nakhchivan, Sheki, Ganja, Guba, Lankaran, Barda regions, successes of Azerbaijani sportsmen in international competitions, all attract the interest to Azerbaijan of international sportive organizations, which were selecting the capital of Azerbaijan - Baku as the place of holding responsible international competitions.

The increased interest in sports throughout the population is seen in the daily life as well. New sport gyms, equipped with modern equipment, are opening in Baku. Light athletics, tennis, swimming, wrestling, and other sports are played in the sportive areas not only by the local citizens but also by the foreigners living and working in Azerbaijan.