Nearly one million tourists visit Azerbaijan in first five months of 2025

A total of 979,900 tourists travelled to Azerbaijan between January and May 2025, marking a 1.5% increase compared to the same period last year.

However, the tourist flow is still 10.5% lower than the pre-pandemic figure for January–May 2019, Caliber.Az reports, citing the State Statistics Committee.

The majority of visitors to Azerbaijan were citizens of Russia (24.6%), followed by Turkey (17.7%), India (10.7%), Iran (8.6%), Georgia (4.4%), Kazakhstan (3.6%), Saudi Arabia (2.9%), Pakistan (2.8%), the UAE and Israel (2% each), Uzbekistan and China (1.9% each), Ukraine (1.4%), Turkmenistan (1.3%), and Belarus and Kuwait (1% each). Visitors from other countries accounted for 12.2% of the total. In total, citizens from 178 countries visited Azerbaijan during the reporting period.

Of those arriving, 68.9% were men and 31.1% were women.

According to the State Statistics Committee, compared to the same period last year, the number of tourists arriving from Israel increased 2.5 times, from Tajikistan by 1.7 times, from China by 1.5 times, from Jordan by 44.3%, from Kyrgyzstan by 39.5%, from Japan by 35.4%, from Pakistan by 21.1%, from Kazakhstan by 20.4%, from South Korea by 18.2%, from the Netherlands by 17.7%, from Saudi Arabia and the UAE by 17.5%, from Canada by 17%, from the United States by 16%, from Spain by 15.7%, from India by 15.1%, from Italy by 13.2%, and from Egypt by 10.6%.

According to the statistical data, the number of visitors from EU member states increased by 2.9%, reaching 39,000 people. Arrivals from the Gulf countries declined by 1.6% to 153,700, while arrivals from CIS countries fell by 7.8% to 326,700. In contrast, the number of tourists from other countries grew by 10.4%, reaching 460,500.

During the reporting period, 73.4% of tourists entered Azerbaijan by air, 25.2% by rail or road, and 1.4% by sea.

Meanwhile, the number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling abroad in January–May 2025 decreased slightly by 0.1%, totalling 807,600 people.

The number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling to Iran rose by 27.3%, to Georgia by 22.8%, while travel to Türkiye and Russia declined by 6.2% and 25.3%, respectively. Türkiye remained the most popular destination, attracting 36.5% of Azerbaijani travellers, followed by Russia (16.4%), Georgia (11%), Iran (11%), and other countries (25.1%).

Men accounted for 66.8% of Azerbaijani tourists, while women made up 33.2%. In terms of transport, 67.8% of travellers used air transport, 30% travelled by rail or road, and 2.2% by sea.

According to statistical data, in 2024, a total of 2.6267 million foreign citizens from 196 countries visited Azerbaijan, marking a 25.9% increase compared to 2023. Meanwhile, the number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling abroad reached 2.1589 million, representing a 15.5% rise.

By Kheyraddin Nasirzade