Tourist flow to Azerbaijan drops 15%

In January-March 2020, 519,300 foreigners traveled to Azerbaijan from 151 countries, down 15% from the previous year, Report informs citing the State Statistical Committee (SSC).

The decline was caused by restrictions in borders with Iran on February 29, with Georgia on March 14, with Turkey on March 15 and with Russia on March 18, as well as in travels of citizens from many countries in the world due to coronavirus pandemic. Consequently, in March, the number of travelers to Azerbaijan fell 53.4% compared to February, 62.2% compared to the previous year.

According to the SSC, 30.3% of visitors traveled from Russia, 28.3% from Georgia, 11.7% from Turkey, 5.9% from Iran, 2.4% from India, 2.3% from Saudi Arabia, 2% from Ukraine, 1.5% from each of UAE and Pakistan, 1.4% from Kuwait, 1.3% from Kazakhstan, 1.2% from Turkmenistan, 1% from Iraq, 0.9% from Great Britain, 0.8% from Uzbekistan, 0.7% from Israel, 6.7% from other countries. Among the visitors, 73% were men, 27% were women.

The number of tourists from Saudi Arabia decreased by 62.4, from China – by 52.7, from Iran – by 45.9%, from Oman – by 45%, from Iraq – by 41%, from the US – by 31.7%, from Spain – by 29.7%, from Qatar – by 27.8%, from Italy – by 27.3% and from the Netherlands – by 23.2%.

The number of tourists from the EU decreased by 22% to 14,900 people, from CIS countries – by 6.3% to 189,600 people, from the Gulf countries – by 36.3% to 68,100 people.