The first phase of opening of Summer And Winter Mountain Skiing Complex “Tufan” was held in Gabala.

President Ilham Aliyev  and  his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva  attended  the  ceremony. In recent  years, special  attention  is  paid  to  the development  of  non-oil sector in Azerbaijan  which  is  at the  forefront  for  paces  of  economic growth. The development  of  non-oil sector   that serves  the  reducing  of   our economy’s  dependence  on  oil factor,  is  now  accompanied  by  the  progress  of  many areas. President Ilham Aliyev  declared  the  growth  of tourism  in Azerbaijan  along with a number of key areas and steps taken in this direction  are already bearing fruit. Summer and Winter Mountain Skiing Complex “Tufan”   in Gabala  occupies an important place in this  course. The  construction  of this   large  complex  shows that, special  attention   is given  to the  development  of tourism and  creation of infrastructure in this area. Along with  the capital, regions were  also  involved  in this  process and  large-scale tourism projects are  implemented  in our regions.  As a result  of the implementation of large-scale events under the  leadership of President  Ilham  Aliyev, the world's most famous hotel brands have come to Azerbaijan  in the  last  few  years, numerous five-star hotels have been  put  in  commission. 2011 has been declared the “Year of Tourism.”  “Tufan”  Summer And Winter Mountain Skiing Complex  of  which  construction  has been continued is of particular importance in terms  of  emergence of a new direction for tourism. As the  visit  to  all  regions  of the Republic, during the  regular visits  to Gabala  Head of State got acquainted with  the  process  of construction  work by coming  to the  complex.  Within the  project, the  large  infrastructure  has  been  created  in   “Tufan”  Summer and Winter Mountain Skiing Complex up to now  and  security measures  have  been taken  for  laying  highway, prevention  of  landslides. In the  territory  the work is being continued in  the direction  of creating the  infrastructure  with  all conditions   for  comfortable  rest  of people   as well as  of  building   hotels, offices, recreation area for  children  and  other  relevant facilities. The construction of  "Golf Resort" sports and recreation center was  intended   in the area near the Ski Complex.  President  Ilham Aliyev  cut the ribbon which marked  the  opening  of the  first  phase  of  “Tufan”  Summer And Winter Mountain Skiing Complex. It was  pointed  out that, within the first phase  of  construction  of the complex   four  ropeway  were fully  constructed, construction work  was completed  in  five  of six  skiing pistes. Other work  is   carried  out  in stages. This winter  the walking  on ropeway, skiing, using  the services of catering facilities will  be  possible. Here the restaurants with  all conditions  were  built  for organizing   the rest  of tourists. Generally, this large recreation area gives the opportunities to tourists for walking on ropeway, skiing  in winter, using   ski school, hotels and other services in all seasons of the year. President Ilham Aliyev was  informed about  a router  plan  of the complex and   work  that will be carried  out  within the second  phase.  It  was  noted  that,  one  of the  important  factors  increasing  the significance  of complex  is that  tourists have  the  opportunities  to choose  the route system  consistent  with  themselves. Each guest  can choose  a route  for its  runway, the degree  of slope and  difficulty. All the  pistes  were  equipped  with artificial snow-making generation system.  In general, “Tufan”  Summer and Winter Mountain Skiing Complex  has the ability to serve three thousand  people during the day. The  realization  of this  project  opens up comprehensive opportunities   for the development  of   mountain skiing and  other  types  of  other winter sports in the  Republic. It  will  play  an indispensable role for the   training  of  our  national sportsmen  in kinds  of winter  sports  in the  future.  Despite  locating  in  warm climate zone Azerbaijan  is  one  of the rare countries which  creates    huge  winter tourism infrastructures and  complexes  meeting  the highest international standards. This, of course, is the  manifestation  of country’s   all-round rapid economic progress, attention paid  to the development  of  tourism at  state level. 
The  work  carried  out  at “Shahdag” Winter-Summer Tourism and at  “Tufan” Summer and Winter Mountain Skiing Recreation  complexes shows the  magnitude of achievements  gained  by Azerbaijan  in the field  of development  of tourism. Due to the foresight of President Ilham Aliyev, the work  carried  out  in Gabala  related  to the  development  of tourism a few  years ago, construction  of  ten hotels  in this framework  is now  making an important contribution to this process.
Afterwards, President  Ilham  Aliyev and  his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva  came to lower  station  of  “Riverside”  ropeway  of the complex.  This  station can also be called  the complex  input. There  was created  any kind  of condition  for  the leisure  of tourists, separate section  was  built  where  the  services are  provided  for  sales and rental of skis. In addition, sporting goods store and café are also operating in the territory. The created condition confirms that  the tourists  will visit Gabala  throughout the year. Gabala which  meets  hundreds  of  guests in summer  henceforth  will    be  one  of  the  main places  that  tourists  will  be  interested  in winter. Tufan”  Summer and Winter Mountain Skiing Complex  already  began  to act as  tourism brand  of  our  country.