{"id":21291,"date":"2020-04-27T13:19:02","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T09:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/?p=21291"},"modified":"2020-04-27T13:19:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T09:19:02","slug":"azerbaijan-tourism-board-launches-innovative-health-and-safety-campaign-to-further-strengthen-tourism-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/azerbaijan-tourism-board-launches-innovative-health-and-safety-campaign-to-further-strengthen-tourism-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijan Tourism Board Launches Innovative Health And Safety Campaign To Further Strengthen Tourism Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB), together with the State Tourism Agency (STA) of the Republic of Azerbaijan and in cooperation with Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (AQTA), has announced the launch of an innovative program called <strong>SAHMAN (Sanitation<\/strong><strong> and<\/strong><strong> Hygiene Methods and Norms).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSAHMAN,\u201d meaning \u201cimmaculateness\u201d in Azerbaijani, is a nationwide campaign set to transform Azerbaijan\u2019s existing health, safety and hygiene standards. Supported by the UNWTO, it also reaffirms the country\u2019s commitment towards providing a world-class tourism destination for its citizens and future visitors alike in the post-pandemic world. ATB is finalising talks with international firm PwC to audit and certify these standards.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the countrywide measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, SAHMAN is founded upon safety, transparency, social responsibility and inclusivity. The programme will adopt a holistic approach to fuel innovation across the tourism industry, ensuring the involvement of all relevant public and private partners, and the safety of those working in the sector. It will culminate with the launch of Azerbaijan\u2019s Domestic Tourism Campaign this summer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Florian Sengstschmid, CEO of Azerbaijan Tourism Board<\/strong> commented, \u201cThe current global pandemic has brought to light the need to reassess and enhance our standards across the industry. The SAHMAN programme calls upon all stakeholders in Azerbaijan to adopt even better practices in their businesses in the interest of safeguarding public health and supporting the regrowth of the industry. With this long-term shift in behaviour, we aim to ensure that these higher standards will be upheld beyond the current crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To launch the campaign, ATB and STA have partnered with the Azerbaijan Hotel Association (AHA), Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan\u00a0(AQTA), regional municipalities and DMOs, with plans to also invite other government sectors to commit to maintaining top-quality standards across the country. The programme will focus on accommodation, F&amp;B and touristic transportation providers \u2013 three key aspects of the tourism value chain.<\/p>\n<p>Stakeholders will be expected to commit to sector-specific checklists introducing initiatives such as mandatory precautionary measures, safe distancing, disinfection, quarantine areas, cleaning methodology, and more. Participants will be supported and incentivised through three primary support programmes \u2013 Training, Amenities and Promotion \u2013 all of which will be financed by the STA. Implementation will be carried out in four phases, by: enrolling on the programme through <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sahman.az\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.sahman.az<\/a>; participating in online and onsite trainings and certification; labelling; and validation.<\/p>\n<p>PwC will lead the audit and certification process. Commenting on this campaign, <strong>Movlan Pashayev, Country Managing Partner of PwC Azerbaijan <\/strong>said, \u201cThis crisis has presented unprecedented challenges for the world, yet it is also a good opportunity to accelerate the transformation of many industries. PwC is looking forward to playing a pivotal role in assisting ATB to roll out this new campaign and contributing to the tourism and hospitality sectors in Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The programme guidelines will continue to evolve, based on recommendations and regulations set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), whose agenda includes adapting best-in-class practices across global industry players. These guidelines will be communicated to participating partners by ATB in a number of ways, including educational materials, trained ambassadors, online platforms (e.g. webinars), a dedicated website and social media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cATB is working to provide innovative solutions to support the industry through this challenging time. It is our endeavour to bolster public confidence in local Azerbaijani businesses, with a view to reviving the economy as we prepare to launch our domestic tourism campaign, hopefully by this summer. When the world is ready to travel again, we will be ready and waiting,\u201d <strong>added Florian<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-21292\" src=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Florian-Sengstschmid-CEO-of-Azerbaijan-Tourism-Board-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Florian-Sengstschmid-CEO-of-Azerbaijan-Tourism-Board-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Florian-Sengstschmid-CEO-of-Azerbaijan-Tourism-Board-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Florian-Sengstschmid-CEO-of-Azerbaijan-Tourism-Board-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB), together with the State Tourism Agency (STA) of the Republic of Azerbaijan and in cooperation with Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (AQTA), has announced the launch of an innovative program called SAHMAN (Sanitation and Hygiene Methods and Norms). \u201cSAHMAN,\u201d meaning \u201cimmaculateness\u201d in Azerbaijani, is a nationwide campaign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21293,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21291\/revisions\/21293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}