Russian tourists spend nearly $166.7 million in Azerbaijan

Foreign nationals and stateless persons spent 943.99 million manats ($555.29 million) in Azerbaijan between January and May, with Russian tourists accounting for the largest share at 283.46 million manats ($166.7 million), according to the State Statistics Committee.

The committee said spending fell by 280.75 million manats ($165.15 million), or 22.9%, from the same period last year, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

Transport accounted for the largest share of spending at 430.93 million manats ($253.49 million), down 24.3% year-on-year.

Visitors spent 171.75 million manats ($101.03 million) on accommodation, a decline of 32%, while expenditure on food totalled 176.71 million manats ($103.95 million), down 20.1%.

Spending on shopping and gifts amounted to 115.07 million manats ($67.69 million), 4.9% lower than a year earlier.

Russian tourists accounted for the largest share of visitor spending, leaving 283.46 million manats ($166.74 million) in Azerbaijan during the five months, down 8.9% year-on-year.

Visitors from Türkiye spent 126.42 million manats ($74.36 million), down 2%, while spending by tourists from India totalled 52.73 million manats ($31.02 million), four times lower than in the corresponding period of 2025.

A total of 871,700 foreign nationals and stateless persons from 186 countries visited Azerbaijan in the first five months of the year, an 11% decrease compared with the same period last year. Of those, 70% arrived by air, 28.5% by rail and road, and 1.5% by sea.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov