21034 Degree project 15 credits May 2021 The role of nature-based tourism The case of Azerbaijan Ramil Namazov Master`s Programme in Sustainable Destination Development The role of nature-based tourism: The case of Azerbaijan Ramil Namazov Abstract Nature-based tourism is one of the most preferred types of tourism by tourists in recent years. This type of tourism also has a special effect on people's decisions. This paper analyzes the role of nature-based tourism in people's decisions and tourist preferences, as well as how companies meet these requirements. Taking into account the growing tourism potential in the Caucasus region, Azerbaijan has been selected as the main study area. In this paper, the qualitative method was applied as the main research design, and the data collection was obtained based on interviews. This study reveals the expectations of tourists from companies and the factors that influence their decisions. It also analyzes how companies meet the needs of tourists and the relationship between them. Faculty of Science and Technology Uppsala University, Place of publication: Campus Gotland, Visby Supervisor: - Subject reader: Magnus Larsson Examiner: Ulrika Persson-Fischier Acknowledgements I am grateful to my family for their constant support, to the Swedish Institute for giving me a chance to study in Sweden, to my friends who supported me throughout my research, and to my supervisor Magnus Larsson for his valuable advice. Finally, I would like to thank the person who will share his/her feedback with me for this work and help develop this research. 1 Acronyms GDP - Gross domestic product DMO - Destination marketing organization UNWTO - World Tourism Organization ATTA- Adventure Travel Trade Association ASAN - Azerbaijan Service and Assessment Network CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2 Table of contents 1.0 Introduction 4 1.1 Study Area 5 1.2 Aim 6 1.3 Research Questions 7 1.4 Scope of the study 8 2.0 Previous Research 9 2.1 The concept of nature-based tourism 2.2 Nature tourists 11 2.3 Nature-based tourism as a main effect of tourists` decisions 13 2.4 Tourism companies and their role on nature-based tourism 15 2.5 Summary 16 3.0 Research Methodology 17 3.1 Qualitative Research Design 17 3.2 Data Analysis and Findings 17 3.3 Data Collection 18 3.4 Ethical Consideration 19 4.0 Data Analysis 19 5.0 Discussion and Conclusion 29 6.0 List of References 33 7.0 Appendices 39 7.1 Interviews 39 3 1.0 Introduction The tourism sector has always been of great interest to both developed and developing countries. The main reason is that it is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world. The World Tourism Organization estimates that world tourism revenues will reach $ 2 trillion by 2020, prompting each country to join the struggle to increase its share of tourism revenues. It seems that consumers engaged in mass tourism have been constantly moving from traditional tourism products to alternative tourism products in recent years. The rapid growth of demand for alternative tourism and the parallel development and diversification of alternative tourism is a reality today. The predominance of alternative tourism in emerging destinations in the tourism market and the creation of new products in old destinations indicate that the demand for alternative tourism will increase in the future. In nature-based tourism, it is mentioned as part of alternative tourism, and this research is conducted on the main nature-based tourism (Balasənli, 2018a). Before COVID-19, tourism had turned out to be one of the most important sectors in the global economy, accounting for 10 percent of global GDP and greater than 320 million jobs worldwide. However, during the pandemic tourism-dependent countries experience the negative influences of the crisis for much longer than different economies. The tourism sector is disproportionately suffering from the pandemic and will continue to struggle until people feel safe to take a trip again. In this situation, it became more important to learn factors that influence the tourist decisions in the tourism sector (International Monetary Fund, n.d.) In parallel with the economic, political, and technological developments in the world, significant changes have been observed in the consumption patterns of tourism in recent years, there is a trend towards a change in the traditional tourism understanding and moving away from tourism centers. The expectations of new types of tourists with this new trend started to emerge as spending time in a clean environment, respectful to the environment, which is intertwined with nature (Düşmezkalender and Metin, 2019a). Nature-based tourism draws attention as a rapidly developing type of tourism within the tourism industry. Particularly, changes in the structure of international demand, increasing education levels and increasing interest and awareness towards environmental issues increase the demand for nature-based and ecotourism travels. Although the emergence of the concept of nature-based tourism is considered new, activities that are considered within the scope of this type of tourism have been carried out for a long time. Nature-based tourism is of great importance in terms of disciplining these activities carried out for natural areas and sensitive ecosystems with the principles it brings (Çoban and Karakuş, 2019). Center for the Promotion of Imports (2020) mentioned in their reports that for a few years now 4 tourists have ended up more aware of leaving a positive effect at the destinations that they visit and in a 2018 Booking.com survey, 87% of world travelers stated they desired to travel to nature and have a contribution to sustainability. Lack of study of the impact of resources on nature-based tourism on tourist decisions and developing tourism strategies by companies, as well as governments, without researching this area, lead to the underdevelopment of this tourism type. Azerbaijan is one of the countries in the Caucasus region with its attractive nature, but the lack of extensive research in this area, neither companies nor the DMOs have extensive information on how nature-based tourism in Azerbaijan plays role in tourists' decisions and which factors are considered by tourism companies `when they organize tours to natural areas. 1.1 Study Area Tourism in Azerbaijan Azerbaijan has rich resources for the development of the tourism industry. This is, first of all, due to its very favorable economic and geographical position. Thus, Azerbaijan is located at the crossroads of two world civilizations in the middle of the Transcaucasian transport corridor, where all the infrastructure - air and sea transport, highways, and roads connecting Europe with the Caucasus and Central Asia pass through. Azerbaijan has 9 out of 11 climate zones. The world of flora fascinates tourists with its brightness and diversity. Natural mud has been used effectively for more than 100 years to treat musculoskeletal, nervous, and other diseases. Among them, Naftalan therapeutic oil has a special place. More than 1,200 large and small rivers flow in Azerbaijan. Many rivers flowing from the mountains create noisy and majestic waterfalls. Azerbaijan is called a sunny country, and this is not accidental. The Republic can be compared with Italy, Spain, and Greece in terms of the number of sunny days per year. Each of them is an integral part of nature-based tourism in Azerbaijan (Pirimova, 2011). The Azerbaijani government has announced the development of tourism as a priority in the non-oil sector of the economy. The work done to promote tourism in the country over the past 10 years, the reforms carried out, the adopted state programs, the improvement of the regulatory framework prove it once again. As a result of these measures, the tourism industry in Azerbaijan has entered a new stage, the country has begun to be recognized as a new tourist destination in the world, and integration into the international tourism market is becoming more widespread every year. According to the January report of the World Tourism Barometer of the UNWTO, Azerbaijan is rated as one of the 20 fastest growing countries in the world in the tourism field (Azernews, 2020). 5 Tourism, based on the principles of environmental sustainability with a major share of foreign investment on the basis of public-private partnership, creates conditions for Azerbaijan to take a leading position in the international arena as the main driving force for the development of villages and regions. In the tourism sector, substantial measures have been taken to update service packages, effectively promote various types of tourism activities, and purposefully develop the physical and social regional tourism infrastructure. Also, investing in the development of health, promising winter tourism and ecotourism, using traditional and modern treatment options, allows more tourists to flow. According to statistics for 2019, Azerbaijan received more than 3 million tourists, which is the second-best indicator in the Caucasus region (The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 2019a). On simplification of the procedure for issuing electronic visas and establishment of the ASAN visa system in 2016, and On additional measures to accelerate the flow of tourists to the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2017 orders have had a significant impact on the development of tourism, which is one of the promising areas. Citizens of a number of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries can visit Azerbaijan without a visa, and citizens of some countries can get a simplified visa to visit Azerbaijan comfortably. According to the Strategic Roadmap for the development of the specialized tourism industry in Azerbaijan in the direction of reshaping the demand for health tourism for local and foreign tourists, supporting the development of winter tourism, creating cultural tourism routes, and strengthening sustainable tourism potential (rural tourism, ecotourism, etc.) appropriate work has been done (State Housing Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 2016).