Baku after Eurovision

Well, thank Christ it’s all over; I mean we are now getting back to normal after that 10 days of Eurovision Hell. I guess it must be akin to the residents of Monaco after the Grand Prix circus leaves town. But this is Baku not Monte Carlo. I watched the Grand Prix live last Sunday and for some reason kept thinking back to the two BBC documentaries that were screened during the Eurovision week. These did not paint a very pretty picture of life here and it seemed to come home when the British entry, Engelbert Humperdinck’s, Love Will Set You Free, came second last - instant karma I wondered. But then BBC FM radio broadcasts are blocked in Azerbaijan, as are Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. Which confuses the hell out of me because you can pick up these radio stations on the Internet! I cannot believe that the Azeri Government are not aware of this disparity. Never mind, the beggars have once more returned to the streets, the streets that were blocked off for the week of the concert are now open, parking restrictions have been lifted and unfortunately the seagulls have not returned to the port areas!!! Hmmmmmm!!
But was it worth it? For us expats, there was totally no interest in the event whatsoever. No expats that I know bought tickets to the shindig and in fact I came across no expats who sat up to watch it on telly - the show started at 12:00 midnight Azeri time. So anything else?
There’s the story doing the rounds that only 800 tickets were sold to foreigners attending the song contest. If you read my previous blog you will see that the authorities were expecting around 40,000 tourists and that there would be a massive shortfall in hotel rooms. As it happens, I was told that the major city hotels were told NOT to take any bookings from people other than song contest visitors. So why the shortfall? Apart from the horrendous costs of up-priced hotel rooms, and the cheapest contest tickets being sold for the equivalent of £160.00, the Azeri authorities misjudged this whole event by not taking into consideration the fact that the Olympic Games are being held in London two months later! If you were German, French, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, Austrian, what would you choose to visit: The Eurovision Song Contest or the Olympic Games - it’s a no-brainer!
And yet the event was sold out for the final five days of the competition but where were the tourists? Walking around the boulevard area and famous Fountain Square district of Baku I have to confess of seeing few foreign visitors. And I know that the authorities were expecting droves of foreigners arriving in Baku for the event, the theory being that they would bring with them tons of tourist dollars. Unfortunately it did not happen.
So who picks up the tab? The Government - who else? The oil-rich state didn’t think twice in spending a jaw-dropping $134 million on its ‘Crystal Hall’ concert building to host the event. The costs of demolishing acres of multi-story flats and other private residences and shops around the Crystal Hall venue, is put at $90 million. If we take security and other related costs into the equation, this one week’s extravaganza has emptied the Azeri capital’s coffers to the tune of about $250 million - in other words, a quarter of a billion dollars! Well, that’s what some Azeris are telling me.
And now that the dust has settled, the 800 tourists have departed, imports can get back into full swing again, unfortunately it might be a while before the seagulls return, and it leaves one asking the question - was it worth it? Come this time next year, when I am no longer working in Azerbaijan (I am returning to the UK shortly), Europeans will be asking of themselves, ‘who won last year’s contest?’ And I will be asking just how many memories Azerbaijan sowed in the minds of those 125 million who tuned into view the event?