VAT exemption of health tourism services for foreigners in Azerbaijan proposed

If health services are exempted from VAT for foreign tourists in Azerbaijan, this will be a very important step, Chairman of Azerbaijan Health and Thermal Tourism Support Association Ruslan Guliyev told Report.

He said that such a step will enable the health tourism package offered to tourists to be more budget-friendly and competitive:

"In addition, we have also submitted other proposals to the relevant state institutions. One of them is related to providing an incentive of 60 conditional financial units from the state budget to the tourists who come to the country for health tourism, provided they stay for seven nights. For example, if 1 million tourists come to the country, 60 million manats ($35.3 million) are spent from the budget, but the value of those tourists in the country is much greater than that. Through Azerbaijan Airlines JSC, it is possible to apply significant discounts to tourists coming for the purpose of health tourism. On the other hand, the allocation of long-term loans with low-interest rates during the establishment of 2-3 star sanatorium-type enterprises and other health tourism enterprises can also have a positive effect on the promotion and increase of the number of business entities working in this field."