Azerbaijan<.> will attend World Travel Market (11-14 November) for the first time, following the creation of a new tourism ministry in April last year.

The republic is keen to promote the fact that it is home to nine out of the 11 climatic zones, 12 nature reserves and more than 6,000 architectural and cultural monuments.

A spokeswoman for the Embassy of Azerbaijan in London said: Ancient towns, palaces mausoleums, churches, mosques, karvansarays and towers are the monuments which deeply impress the tourists visiting Azerbaijan.

The Republic attracted just over 865,000 visitors during the first half of this year, most of who were from neighbouring countries Iran, Russia and Georgia and Turkey. The purpose of their visits was a mixture of business and leisure.

It is eager to draw more tourists from Europe as well as from Asia and near-eastern countries, and will be presenting a variety of literature at World Travel Market to try to establish relationships with overseas operators.

We are hoping that brochures, magazines and CDs containing much information about Azerbaijan will serve for enlargement and promotion of relations in the tourism sphere with other countries, said the spokeswoman.