Azerbaijan holds some of the richest natural health assets in its region and almost none of the health tourism market that could be built on them, Azer News reported. Its assets run from the Naftalan crude oil baths to more than 900 mud volcanoes and hundreds of mineral springs, yet most sit outside any tourism product and draw few foreign patients. “We haven’t told our story properly,” said Ruslan Guliyev, who chairs the Azerbaijan Health and Thermal Tourism Support Association.
Assets without a product
The gap is not one of resources but of packaging. Health tourism is the market Azerbaijan keeps missing, Azer News reported. Naftalan’s oil, used for skin and joint conditions, is close to unique, and the springs of Lachin run to more than 300 sources, Azer News reported. Little of it is branded, booked or sold to the outside world. Much of the custom that remains comes from a shrinking pool of post-Soviet visitors who knew the old sanatoria. That older market has faded, and little has come to replace it. A country can own the springs and still not own the trade, which is the position Azerbaijan is in. A 2022 report by the State Tourism Agency, the only official study of the sector, set out the same failings: weak global recognition, no international accreditation, and no unified booking or pricing.
The model Baku studies
Officials point to Türkiye, which a generation ago sat about where Azerbaijan sits now. Türkiye earned about 3.1 billion dollars from health tourism in 2023 and treated roughly 1.65 million foreign patients, Azer News reported, and it has set a target of 20 billion dollars by 2028. That rise did not come from nature. Foreign patients travelled to Türkiye for care they trusted, not for the scenery. Türkiye built its position as a destination on accredited hospitals, state incentives, a single national brand and steady marketing, turning hair transplants, cosmetic surgery and dentistry into names patients recognise. The lesson for Baku, Azer News reported, is not to copy Ankara but to see that targeted money and a clear story can turn niche assets into real revenue. What Türkiye had was a plan, and what Azerbaijan has is the raw material without one.
New ground, new airports
The newest chapter is in the Garabagh and East Zangezur regions, retaken by Azerbaijan and now under reconstruction, Azer News reported. New airports at Fuzuli, Zangilan and Lachin are meant to make the area reachable, and it holds a dense concentration of mineral springs, Azer News reported. A tax change now lets foreign patients reclaim value added tax on non-cash medical payments, a small edge over neighbours. Access is being built ahead of the product. The country has the springs, the country has the oil, and the country has no product to sell. Whether a bookable health tourism offer follows the runways is the open question, and it is the same question the whole sector faces.
What to watch
The prescription is familiar and, as ever, easier to write than to fill. Analysts want a single medical tourism council with real authority, accreditation at the main clinics, an online platform patients can search and book, and Naftalan sold under the national brand against neighbours like Kazakhstan that are chasing the same visitors. Health tourists stay longer than beach tourists and spend more, and the trade runs through the year rather than a single season, which is why the prize is worth the work. None of these steps is new, and none has yet been built, Azer News reported. What the country has not done is turn any of it into a product, and that is the same question it faced years ago. Three tests are concrete: whether a medical tourism council is actually stood up, whether a first clinic wins international accreditation, and whether the new airports in Garabagh carry patients rather than only builders.