The Azerbaijan Tourism Board, the national tourism promotion body under the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, opened its Beijing office on Friday.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Florian Sengstschmid, the Board’s CEO, highlighted China’s importance as both a major source of outbound travelers and an increasingly popular destination for international visitors.
“China plays already a very important role globally. We see that for many, many years, China is number one, leading outbound travel destination, but also we see an increasing inbound tourism to China — this is the beauty, and more and more people are coming and visiting China. So, from our perspective, for now, Chinese travelers, Chinese market is among top 10 source markets in Azerbaijan, and we see that within the next three to five years, China can definitely make it into the top three,” he said.
According to the CEO, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Azerbaijan has surged significantly since China and Azerbaijan launched mutual visa-free travel in July 2025.
In 2025, Azerbaijan received 65,000 visitors from China, representing a 45 percent increase from the previous year, he said.
Sengstschmid also emphasized the role of direct flights in strengthening tourism exchanges and cultural understanding between the two countries.
“When you really start also bringing connectivity in, with direct flights between Baku and Beijing and Baku and Urumqi, and the good news is next year also Baku and Shanghai will be connected by Azerbaijani airlines. So, connectivity grows, more visitors in both directions, and this obviously amplifies a cultural exchange and cultural understanding,” he said.
The opening of the Beijing office, he noted, was not a recent decision but part of Azerbaijan’s long-term commitment to deepening tourism ties with China.
“It was not a recent decision; we started working very actively already back in 2018-2019. We’ve signed trilateral agreements, we have been on all fronts working with our travel trade partners, with media, on making Azerbaijan more aware in China, and then we decided that China is known, it’s the largest outbound travel market in the world, and this is also the dynamics where we see that there is a lot of potential from China to Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan to China, and this was a commitment when we said we want to be here, we want to be in Beijing,” Sengstschmid said.
Azerbaijan opens tourism office in Beijing
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged communities at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to seek early treatment for suspected cases and follow safe burial practices to help contain the disease.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the appeal on Saturday during a visit to Bunia, one of the areas hardest hit by the outbreak.
Hospitals in the area have been overwhelmed by the number of patients, and not everyone is receiving care.
Tedros met with the area’s military governor to assess the situation, understand local needs and determine how the WHO can help stop the disease from spreading further.
Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province in northeastern DRC, is close to the Ugandan border. Some Ebola cases reported in neighboring Uganda involved people who had traveled from the province. In response, Uganda has closed its border with the DRC, while the DRC government has restricted travel to the affected area.
The latest outbreak, declared on May 15, is the 17th in the DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976. Over the past two weeks, more than 1,000 suspected cases and more than 230 suspected deaths have been reported. Neighboring Uganda has also reported nine confirmed cases.
WHO chief urges early treatment for suspected Ebola cases in DR Congo