Tourist influx to Azerbaijan reaches new milestone in January 2025

Azerbaijan’s tourism sector is thriving like never before, with the number of foreign visitors and stateless individuals reaching an all-time high in January 2025.

According to the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan, a total of 172,653 international arrivals flocked to the country, marking a significant 4% rise compared to the same time last year, Caliber.Az reports.

This remarkable growth is not just a short-term bump; it represents a seismic shift. The latest numbers reflect a staggering 136,538 additional visitors, or 4.8 times the number of tourists seen in the same month over the past five years. To put it in perspective, just last year, 165,868 foreign visitors came to Azerbaijan, a sharp contrast to only 36,115 in January 2021.

January 2025 also sets new milestones when compared to the previous two years. In 2022, tourism saw a doubling in numbers, adding 37,942 more tourists, while the year after, 45,037 more visitors arrived, marking a 60.8% leap from 2023.

This rise is all the more striking considering the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the spread of the virus in early 2020, Azerbaijan’s tourism took a hard hit, with a nationwide quarantine declared in March of that year. Still, despite the pandemic's setbacks, the January 2025 numbers show how far the country has come since those dark days.

Looking back, the numbers show even greater contrast. In January 2020, Azerbaijan was welcoming 226,164 international visitors — over 31% more than the record-breaking 172,653 in January 2025. Yet, even as the country recovers from the pandemic, this recent uptick underscores a clear trend: Azerbaijan’s allure as a tourism destination is not only returning but thriving.

By Tamilla Hasanova