MP: Entertainment tourism in Azerbaijan will help create new jobs

Global experience shows that entertainment and gaming tourism increase the inflow of foreign visitors to regional areas, Azer Amiraslanov, Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship Committee of the Milli Majlis, said at today's parliamentary plenary session.

Report quotes him as saying entertainment and gaming tourism contribute to job creation in hotels, restaurants, and other service sectors, as well as to attracting both foreign and local investment into tourism infrastructure:

"This sector generates additional revenue for the budget and becomes one of the economic channels for bringing foreign currency into the country. However, the main point to emphasize is that the draft law currently under discussion — On the Creation of Artificial Land Plots in the Azerbaijani Sector of the Caspian Sea (Lake) — in no way aims to promote gambling in the country. If such opinions exist, they are completely mistaken."

Amiraslanov clarified that gambling is merely an auxiliary component of premium and luxury tourism:

"This area may have certain indirect economic effects in the future, but it does not form the basis of entrepreneurship or the non-oil sector. Neither our government nor society sees the country's economic development prospects as being tied to this field."

The MP added that gambling is just one of approximately 160 types of entrepreneurial activity in Azerbaijan that require licensing and approval:

"As of the end of 2024, the number of business entities operating in Azerbaijan exceeded 322,000, with 76,000 having legal entity status. The main priorities of the country's economic policy are the development of a competitive national economy, support for innovative initiatives, industrialization, development of the agricultural sector, and the expansion of export and transit potential."