Most of foreign tourists in Azerbaijan in August account for Russian citizens

In August, 361,000 foreign guests arrived in Azerbaijan, a source in the State Tourism Agency said, Trend reports Sept. 11.

This shows an increase of 42,000 people (13.2 percent) compared to August last year, according to the source.

"The majority of tourists (111,000 people) were Russian citizens,” the source noted. "A major increase (82.2 percent or 17,000 people) was also observed among Iranian tourists.”

According to the source, tourists from Georgia also like to come to Azerbaijan, and in August their number amounted to 68,000 people, which is 11,000 people (20 percent) more compared to the same period last year.

The number of guests who came from Turkey, Central Asia and South Asia increased by 13 percent, 50 percent and 11.25 percent respectively, amounting to 27,000, 14,000 and 11,000 people respectively.

The biggest number of travelers from the Middle East region accounts for Saudi Arabia, and the number of tourists who came from this country to Azerbaijan increased by 18.3 percent, reaching 22,600 people.

"In January-August 2019, the number of foreign tourists who came to Azerbaijan increased by 8.3 percent amounting to 2.1 million people,” said the source. "More than half of them (53 percent) are Russian (653,000) and Georgian tourists (472,000). The number of Georgian tourists grew by 22.8 percent or by 87,000 people.”

The number of tourists coming from countries of Central and South Asia increased by 40.4 percent and 38.1 percent (83,000 people and 72,000 people), respectively.