Ministry: Tourist visits to the Azerbaijani national parks up 3-fold last year

Baku. 11 January. REPORT.AZ/ Number of tourists, visiting Azerbaijani national parks in 2016 increased 3-fold compared to previous years.

Report informs citing the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, 75 000 tourists visited Azerbaijani national parks in 2015, while this figure reached 199 530 in 2016.

3 081 foreign tourists, 196 449 Azerbaijani citizens visited national parks in 2016. However, 1 050 foreign tourists, 73 950 Azerbaijani citizens visited national parks in 2015.

Notably, today is Reserves and National Parks Day. At present, up to 890 000 hectares of specially protected natural areas, including 8 national parks, 12 state nature reserves and 24 state nature sanctuaries are available in Azerbaijan. National parks and reserves consist 10.3% of the country's territory.