Lengthy and restrictive procedures accompany Azerbaijan new E-visa

BAKU- It sounds like a consecration: The UN agency for tourism UNWTO welcomed recently Azerbaijan's implementation of a new e-visa system streamlining visa applications into an electronic format, aimed to attract more international tourists into the country.

The electronic visa system, operational since March 2013, was administered upon the decree of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to facilitate visa procedures for foreigners traveling to the country. The measure enables document facilitation and reduction of visa costs and processing times.

“Azerbaijan’s decision is the recognition of how visa facilitation can be a key measure to promote tourism in a country. This new system encourages travel to Azerbaijan and will lead to further development of the country/s tourism sector through the increase of international tourism flows,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

Currently, there are 25 travel companies operating in the country that are authorized to issue e-visas to international tourists, and initiatives are being undertaken to increase this number. Concurrent with the implementation of the system, border checkpoints are also being improved.

However, the new system seems not to bring total satisfaction to travellers, as reported by the local tour operator Azerbaijan24.com. On its website, the agency explains that the procedure remains extremely long and surprisingly rather restrictive. It takes up to two weeks –but most of the time three weeks in reality- to process with the online visa. The agency warns about serious delays, advising to Apply for e-visa far ahead of the proposed travel dates to avoid disruption. Then it is also necessary to book a hotel for the whole duration of the e-visa as the number of days allowed into the country will strictly stick to the total number of booked nights. The air ticket must also be submitted.

Azerbaijan24 explains that a potential problem might then occur to travellers wishing to visit regions outside Baku: most of the hotels there have no internet and accept only bookings by phone.
Meanwhile, this is only the beginning of the new procedure and improvement is to be expected. E visa is due to become a common feature of many countries over the years to come. According to a UNWTO/WTTC report, the implementation of visa facilitation measures among the G20 economies could generate as much as an 5.1 million jobs and extra US$ 200 million extra in exports from international tourism between 2013 and 2015.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews