- The project is executed to promote entrepreneurship in the regions, ensure self-employment, support rural tourism and improve the welfare of residents;

- Primarily, requests are analyzed by partners, their location on the tourist route, construction of the required infrastructure and the current conditions of the house are taken as a basis;

- Each house is planned to be provided with inventory worth about 8000 manats;

- To take part in the project, the relevant rural guesthouse must have been operating in this direction for the last three years.

For many years, globally, especially in European countries, crucial importance has been attached to benefiting from rural tourism, which provides interesting travel moments for tourists, allows them to learn about the local way of life, and share cultural experiences. The growing popularity of this branch of tourism makes the  prospect of establishing rural guesthouses that offer their services to travellers at affordable prices relevant.

In Azerbaijan, with substantial potential in terms of rural tourism, rural guesthouses have been established for the third year in a row within the scope of the "Development of entrepreneurship and self-employment in villages" project. The project, which  was being implemented since 2021, is executed with the support of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (KOBİA) under the Ministry of Economy, the State Employment Agency under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, and the State Tourism Agency. As part of the project, initially 15 village guesthouses were established in Ismayilli district and were properly equipped. More than 220 villagers from different regions were registered for the second phase of the project, which was implemented for the purpose of promoting entrepreneurship in the regions, provide self-employment, support rural tourism and improve the welfare of residents, and among them, those who met the relevant criteria were selected and provided with the essential assets. Project actors were engaged in trainings on business and tourism, including business plan drafting, relevant management and customer satisfaction, sales, hospitality methods, organization of cleanliness and hygiene, safety rules, nutrition, social media management. Meanwhile, business management and tourism consulting, business development mentoring services were rendered to those persons.

Such guesthouses will be established in the western regions as well

According to the information provided by the State Employment Agency, rural guesthouses that offer accommodation services to local and foreign tourists contribute to the rise of income and employment of the residents of the region, and the development of entrepreneurship in the regions. Selections of the project actors are pursued in 2  phases. At first, applications are analysed by partners, their location on the tourist route, construction of the required infrastructure and the current conditions of the house are taken as a basis. At the next sphase, the status of citizens in the labour and employment subsystem is checked in accordance with the law. One of the main requirements  for a person to take part in the project is to be unemployed. Citizens who successfully pass both phases during the selection process are entitled to take part in the project, trainings are organized for those persons to acquire relevant knowledge in the fields of tourism and services, repair and restoration works are performed in the area to be used as a touristic facility. At the next phase, business facilities are equipped with appropriate assets for agrotourism.

It is worth noting that as part of this project, a rural guesthouse was established for a total of 65 citizens in different regions. Regarding the principle of deciding on the selected areas, the Agency mentioned that the areas are firstly selected based on the principle of higher tourism potential. The implementation of the project has already been ensured in Mountainous Shirvan, Sheki-Zagatala, Lankaran-Astara, Guba-Khachmaz regions, and it is planned to be implemented in the western regions at the next stage.

Each house is equipped with inventory worth about 8000 manats

According to Huseyn Mammadov, Director of the Department of Destination Management Organizations and Regional Project Management of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, establishing rural guesthouses is one of the important directions for the tourism sector: "Various platforms built regarding rural guesthouses, both in Europe and in Asian countries, are welcomed by tourists. One of the reasons for it is that the prices of rural guesthouses are more affordable than hotel prices. On the other hand, especially foreign tourists are interested in familiarizing themselves with the traditions of the destination region and take part in this process. Hence, rural guesthouses also bring about exquisite conditions. Staying in such houses allows tourists to communicate with the villagers, taste their food, and get to know their culture, history, and traditions."

Noting that the number of hotels, hostels and other means of accommodation facilities in Azerbaijan is not sufficient, and therefore tourists visiting the regions encounter certain problems, H. Mammadov stated that the State Tourism Agency has started the process of building rural guesthouses for the above-mentioned reason in the last 3 years. According to him, trainings are conducted for the owners of rural houses through the tourist information centers in the regions: "We provide them with infrastructure support, as well as assist with existing repair work and provide them with inventories. Each house is planned to be equipped with inventory worth about 8,000 manats, including essential necessities - beds, sofas, kitchen furniture, vacuum cleaners, etc."

The director of the department mentioned that the services rendered by rural houses vary depending on the offer of the host or the request of the guest. Overall, more than 70 percent of guesthouses offer breakfast, lunch and dinner to tourists. In addition, if the owner of the rural guesthouse is involved in some kind of business - be it animal husbandry, or agriculture, horticulture - he offers those products to tourists.   Beekeeping is very popular, especially in the southern and northwestern destinations. There - tourists are offered honey, royal jelly, etc.” H. Mammadov also noted that during the summer season and early autumn, as more tourists visit the regions, the percentage of occupancy in guesthouses is high during those periods: "There are about three hundred rural guesthouses with which we closely cooperate. Given the average occupancy of 20 days, around 6,000 tourists stay at the rural guesthouses during the season”.

Ensuring tourist satisfaction is one of the primary goals

Our interlocutor stated that in order to be part of the project, the relevant rural house must have been operating in this direction for the past three years, that is, it must have received tourists for the period of three years: "Those persons must have certain experience, so that we can boost their experience through training. Of course, the training package covers many topics, one of which, and the most important, is tourist satisfaction. In this respect, we conduct both practical and theoretical training. We will continue these trainings in the coming years."

During the high season,  certain measures are taken to tackle some of the problems that are revealed by the virtue of the  surveys held among tourists regarding the activities of rural guesthouses. One of the clauses of the contract signed with the project actors is regular monitoring of the tourism information centers in those houses. The monitoring process aims to ensure the level of tourist satisfaction, control whether the owner deviates from his activities, and achieve a legal solution to the issue in case of any problem.

International organizations take paramount interest to the project

Emphasizing that the aforementioned project was successfully implemented, our interlocutor stated that many international organizations operating in Azerbaijan are   interested in exploring avenues to contributing to the developments to this effect: "We are trying to present this project to those international organizations as an incentive tool for the development of employment in villages, and they will also implement support measures such as education, presentation of inventories, improvement of infrastructure work. Since many non-governmental organizations have applied to us in this respect, we, in our turn, share our single database with them."

Stating that one of the unique trends is the surge  in conceptual accommodation facilities (triangular rural houses, container houses) in Azerbaijan in the past two years, the head of the department noted: "There is a great interest in such accommodation facilities in Ismayilli, Gabala and Zagatala districts, which are mostly located in the southern regions as well. This interesting approach will, indeed, contribute to the further development of rural tourism."

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