Tourist flow to Azerbaijan approaching pre-pandemic level

The number of tourists who travelled to Azerbaijan from January through May 2024 amounted to 965,600 people, which is 35.4 per cent more compared to the same period last year.

At the same time, compared to the pre-pandemic five-month figure, the volume of tourist flows is 11.8 per cent less, Caliber.Az reports, citing the State Statistics Committee.

The majority of tourists who visited Azerbaijan were citizens of the Russian Federation - 28.8 per cent, 18.2 per cent of tourists from Türkiye, 9.4 per cent from India, 9.3 per cent from Iran, 4.3 per cent from Georgia, 3 per cent from Kazakhstan, 2.5 per cent - Saudi Arabia, 2.4 per cent - Pakistan, 1.7 per cent each - Uzbekistan and the UAE, 1.4 per cent - Ukraine, 1.3 per cent each - Turkmenistan, China and Kuwait, 1.2 per cent - Belarus , 12.2 per cent - other countries.

In total, citizens of 179 countries visited Azerbaijan during the reporting period. As much as 69.9 per cent of arrivals were men, 30.1 per cent were women.

“Compared to the same period last year, the number of arrivals from China increased by 2.8 times, from India - by 2.6 times, from South Korea - by 2.2 times, from Kazakhstan - by 1.8 times, from the Philippines - 1.8 times, from Spain – 1.7 times, from Saudi Arabia – 1.7 times, from Tajikistan – 1.7 times, from Kyrgyzstan – 1.7 times, from Bahrain – 1.7 times times, from Oman - 1.6 times, from Iran - 1.5 times, from Turkmenistan - by 42.6 per cent, from Pakistan - by 42.4 per cent, from Italy - by 42.4 per cent, from Kuwait - by 41.2 per cent, from Yemen - by 39.7 per cent, from Jordan - by 36 per cent, from Egypt - by 33.5 per cent, from Poland - by 33.4 per cent, from Germany - by 25.2 per cent, Ukraine – by 23.3 per cent, from Türkiye – by 23.1 per cent, from Uzbekistan – by 23 per cent, Russia – by 20.3 per cent, the US – by 19.5 per cent, France – by 15.9 per cent, Georgia – by 12.4 per cent, UAE – by 12 per cent,” says the State Statistics Committee.

According to statistical data, the number of arrivals from the Persian Gulf countries increased 1.5 times to 156,300 people, from EU member countries - by 31.1 per cent to 37,900 people, from the CIS countries - by 24 per cent, up to 367,800 people.

Over the past period, 71.5 per cent of tourists arrived in Azerbaijan by air, 27.1 per cent by rail and road, and 1.4 per cent by sea.

Over the first 5 months of this year, the number of Azerbaijani citizens who travelled abroad increased by 27.5 per cent, amounting to 808,100 people.

Around 38.9 per cent of Azerbaijani citizens visited Türkiye, 21.9 per cent - the Russian Federation, 8.9 per cent - Georgia, 8.6 per cent - Iran, 21.7 per cent - other countries.

The number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling to Iran increased by 39.4 per cent, to Türkiye - by 27.1 per cent, to Georgia - by 21.3 per cent, and to the Russian Federation - by 14.9 per cent. In total, 67.3 per cent of Azerbaijani tourists were men, 32.7 per cent were women.

Some 67.7 per cent of Azerbaijani citizens who visited foreign countries used air transport, 30 per cent - railway and road transport, 2.3 per cent - sea transport.

According to statistics, in 2023 the number of foreign citizens from 187 countries who travelled to Azerbaijan amounted to over 2.85 million people, which is 30.2 per cent more than in 2022. The number of Azerbaijani citizens travelling to foreign countries amounted to 1 million 868.7 thousand people (an increase of 25.5 per cent).