Azerbaijan welcomes over 2.6 million tourists in 2024

The Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency has announced that 2,626,838 foreigners and stateless people were welcomed in 2024, marking a 26 per cent increase compared to 2023.

Azerbaijan saw 214,678 international arrivals in December 2024, an 11 per cent rise compared to the same month in the previous year, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media. 

The highest number of tourists came from Russia, with 731,009 visitors, followed by Türkiye with 426,241 tourists and India with 243,589 tourists.

Other notable arrivals included 210,100 tourists from Iran, 111,200 tourists from Georgia, 98,100 tourists from Saudi Arabia, 86,300 tourists from Kazakhstan, and 80,900 tourists from Pakistan.

Throughout the year, Azerbaijan also welcomed a significant number of travellers from China (44,700), Uzbekistan (46,300), the UAE (46,700), Ukraine (36,100), Turkmenistan (33,000), Kuwait (31,300), and Israel (28,900).

The number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling abroad also saw growth, increasing by 16.9 per cent to 1.99 million in the first 11 months of 2024. The top destinations for Azerbaijani travellers were Türkiye (41.4 per cent of the total), Russia (20.6 per cent), Georgia (8.7 per cent), and Iran (8.6 per cent). Azerbaijani travellers favoured air transport (69.5 per cent), followed by rail and road (28.4 per cent) and sea transport (2.1 per cent).

In 2023, Azerbaijan saw 2.85 million foreign visitors, a 30.2 per cent increase compared to 2022. The number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling abroad that year reached 1.87 million, reflecting a growth of 25.5 per cent.

By Naila Huseynova