The Azerbaijani Ministry for Culture and Tourism has recommended hotels in Baku to halt the booking of rooms for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest (May 5-27), ABC reports.
Nahid Bagirov, head of the Azerbaijani Tourism Association, said that the main goal is to prevent rising prices and to provide rooms for organizers of the contest. Baku hotels can accommodate about 11,000 guests. About 4,000 official guests will arrive, their rooms have already been booked. The remaining 7,000 rooms are planned for other guests.
Bagirov said that about 3,000 tourist submissions have been filed for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.
