Azerbaijan welcomes over 1 million visitors in first half of 2026

More than 1 million people travelled to Azerbaijan in the first half of 2026, with Russian citizens accounting for the largest share of arrivals, according to the State Statistics Committee.

The committee said a total of 1.09 million visitors entered the country between January and June, down 10.3% from the same period last year and 22.5% below pre-pandemic levels recorded in the first half of 2019, Caliber.Az reports.

Russian citizens accounted for the largest share of visitors at 28.1%, followed by tourists from Türkiye (21%), Iran (8.2%), Georgia (4.9%), Kazakhstan (4.6%), Uzbekistan (3.2%), Pakistan (2.9%), India (2.8%), Israel (2.6%), China (2.4%), Saudi Arabia (1.8%), Ukraine (1.6%), Turkmenistan (1.3%), and Germany and the United Kingdom (1.1% each).

Visitors from other countries made up 12.4% of the total.

Overall, travellers from 189 countries visited Azerbaijan during the reporting period. Men accounted for 68.7% of arrivals and women for 31.3%.

The number of visitors from EU member states rose 9.3% to 54,400, while arrivals from CIS countries increased 1.8% to 430,400. Tourist arrivals from Gulf countries fell 31.4% to 127,700, and those from other countries declined 14.1% to 480,100.

Air travel remained the dominant mode of entry, accounting for 71.1% of arrivals, followed by rail and road transport at 27.5%, while 1.4% arrived by sea.

Meanwhile, the number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling abroad fell 5.1% year-on-year to 937,400 in the first six months of 2026, remaining 2.7 times below the level recorded in the first half of 2019.

Türkiye was the most popular destination, attracting 41.5% of Azerbaijani travellers, followed by Russia (17.1%), Georgia (11.7%), Iran (6.2%), and other countries (23.5%).

According to official statistics, Azerbaijan welcomed 2.57 million foreign visitors from 196 countries in 2025, down 2.1% from 2024, while outbound travel by Azerbaijani citizens declined 2.3% to 2.11 million.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov