When Kiev hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, it proved a terrific boost to tourism in Ukraine. With the 2012 contest taking place in Baku from 22 to 26 May, Azerbaijan is bracing itself for an influx of 50,000 to 100,000 visitors, according to the country's Ministry of Culture & Tourism.
Initially, the event was to be held at the football stadium in Baku named after Tofiq Bahramov, the so-called 'Russian linesman' (in fact he was Azerbaijani) whose controversial decision was instrumental in England's 1966 World Cup win. However, a new auditorium on the shores of the Caspian Sea is expected to be ready in time for the contest, not far from the new Zaha Hadid-designed Heydar Aliyev Centre, an immense, curvaceous complex containing a museum, library and conference centre.
The number of new buildings rising in Baku is astonishing. Among the hotels opening in time for Eurovision is a splendidly opulent Four Seasons (www.fourseasons.com), in a pastichebelle époque building that recalls the glory days of the city's last oil boom, when Nobels and Rothschilds had splendid homes here; there's also a Fairmont (www.fairmont.com), in the evocatively named Flame Towers, a cluster of glass buildings shaped like tongues of fire which glow orange when illuminated at night.
Eurovision tickets go on sale in December or early January. See www.eurovision.tv for updates.
Pictured: View from Maiden Tower, Baku