Travel from Maldives to Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan may soon become one of the popular tourist destination for Maldives. Azerbaijan Airlines have recently announced that they are planned to start schedule flights between Male’ and Baku. A return ticket costs $633 and both are Muslim countries where the required Halal food is available.

The trip is estimated to take 6 hours, this is too far to travel. At present the most popular tourist destinations for Maldivians include Thailand and Malaysia, it takes 5 hours to fly there. People may not mind an extra hour if there is something different and attractive to experience. We can already see the mountain ranges and cold climate could be huge attractions for the people of Maldives who only experience summer in low lying island nation. Azerbaijan is also well known for cost effective culinary options, especially meat dishes and poultry.

Azerbaijan spans between Asia and Europe at the Caucasus Mountains and has a population of 10 million of which over 97% is Muslim. Maldives is a 100% Muslim country with only half a million in population. This already paints the picture that most of the passengers flying the Azerbaijan Airlines will be inbound tourists visiting Maldives. However, exploration of outbound Maldives market may greatly help the airline fill up empty seats.

Maldives offer free tourist visa for all nationalities, except Israel. No prior visa is required to visit Maldives as a tourist, the tourist visa is granted upon arrival at the airport. However, all tourists are required to fill up an online self declaration prior to arrival, usually when it is within 72 hours. The declaration is simple and you can do this via website of Maldives Immigration.

Azerbaijan currently requires visa for Maldivian tourists. This will likely be an obstacle for Maldives who want to visit Azerbaijan. The Maldives passport is recognized as one of the strongest in the region, it gives access to visit 64 countries as a tourist without obtaining visa.