Obviously, your hotel
targets foreign businessmen. But where are they
coming from, what are they doing?
I would say that for our hotel here 99% are business
individuals. Only 1% comes here on leisure. 50%
of our guests are from Europe, approximately 30%
from America, 20% are from Caucasus and Middle
East.
You have been here for two years or even more.
Among your guests and the foreign community present
in Baku, have you seen many changes since you
arrived?
No, actually the only change that I see here
is increasing occupancy. Regarding the mix of
nationalities it is very stable, due to the same
key players in the market over several years.
So you have a lot of people coming in from the
oil capital of America, Houston, Scandinavia,
United Kingdom, Germany and France. There are
many subcontractors, either based in England or
Norway due to the experience they have from the
North Sea. So from Europe we have big persenatge
of visitors.
How many French people do you have here?
France has its own representative in the person
of TotalFina company and from the Diplomatic relations.
Italy is less represented. Summing everything
up, number one is United Kingdom, number two is
Scandinavians and number three is French and Germans.
You were talking about your occupancy rate.
How has it evolved exactly? Are you at 100% today?
We have increased from 2002 when we had 75%.
This year we will end at 85% and we are budgeting
87% for 2004.
How many rooms do you have?
40 rooms. The pressure is during weekdays, where
we are very often fully booked and it is a little
bit slower during weekends. Due to frequent flights
from Europe by British Airways, Lufthansa, Azerbaijan
Airlines and Austrian Airlines, people tend to
plan their trips to be back "home" for
the weekends. Due to lack of leisure traffic in
Azerbaijan, weekends are not easy to fill up,
which normally is the main business for hotels
during this period.
As part of your activity, do you also provide
offices to companies?
The building our hotel is situated in also provides
office space, but this is under the management
of ISR Plaza. The hotel occupies 14th to 16th
floor. The business center is situated from 2nd
floor to 13th floor. Even though we are two separate
companies operating within the building, we work
very closely to optimize business for both parts
benefit.
|
How do you attract
foreign delegations? Are you working with the Ministry
of Trade/Foreign Affairs or the Chamber of Commerce
in order to get the attention from international
businessmen to come to the Radisson?
We do. But over the years normally I have to
say "No" due to the fact that we only
have 40 rooms, making it difficult for us to except
delegations larger than 15 to 20 persons.
It means that currently you are on the position
when you have to refuse clients most of the times?
For sure I admit that we have a bit of lost business.
Nevertheless we have good contact with the various
Government agencies, American Chamber of Commerce,
the German Chamber and others. We do get our fair
share of business, but more on an individual basis.
I would like to come back to the tourism sector.
Would you have any opinion or even recommendation
in order to make this sector grow? May be you
think that there are some statements or diversifications
that can be necessary…
The main issue for Azerbaijan is to develop their
infrastructure in the future, in order to accommodate
more tourism, from markets like Asia, Europe and
USA. Azerbaijan is a beautiful country to travel
in with a very rich culture. You have beautiful
places like Sheki, Guba and Xinaliq, as well as
others that which are all potential tourist destinations.
I believe there is a big market out there.
You have been here for two years. What is
your impression from the beginning and now. Do
you notice the revolution that has happened with
this country? I mean when you first arrived what
you have been thinking and what is your point
of view now?
There is a steady development of new jobs for
the locals, entertainment such as restaurants
and bars/pubs. When I arrived for over 2 years
ago I did not know what to expect. The Azeris
are very friendly and open people and curious
towards your interest in their country and culture.
I have met a lot of very nice people around my
trips in Azerbaijan. Many of them inviting you
for a cup of tea in their house and to have a
small conversation. This I do not experience in
my own country, Norway.
|
V.I.P. INTERVIEWS
