The influence of wellness tourism on the Azerbaijan economy

Wellness tourism plays an important role in the socio-economic development of Azerbaijan. Because the landscape and climatic features of the republic contribute to the resort and tourist facilities development, the availability of the dry subtropical climate over large areas has a positive effect on human health, and alpine and tundra landscape offers great opportunities for the development of winter sports, presence of mineral waters, medicinal oil and mud along with an increase in value of the resorts, create the opportunity for their year-round activities. This sphere of services is young enough for our country. This article is primarily focused on wellness tourism, originally conceived as a marketing tool to attract international demand for health care services. The article is aimed at summarizing the promoting wellness tourism in the developing countries as Azerbaijan, as well as to assess the opportunities and constraints of its development in the current socio-economic conditions. The article investigates the role and place of wellness tourism in Azerbaijan, and determines the effect of revenue from wellness tourism. The special attention is given to the advantages and disadvantages associated with the national medical and health tourism, and to the prospects of tourism in Azerbaijan. The article also analyzes the difference between the services provided by private and public health resorts in the country, the level of services provided by them, the value added generated in medical and health institutions of the country, and other indicators. Additionally, this article has calculated a logarithmic regression that causes the connection between the increase of 1% of tourists coming to the country for the purpose of wellness tourism and the change in the volume of paid services in the sanatorium institutions.