Tourist flow to Azerbaijan drops more than 36%

In January-April 2020, 539,000 foreigners traveled to Azerbaijan from 151 countries, down 36.5% 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 April, the number of people traveling to Azerbaijan fell 4.7-fold compared to March, 12.1-fold compared to the previous year.

According to the SSC, 30.4% of visitors traveled from Russia, 27.9% from Georgia, 12.3% from Turkey, 6.1% from Iran, 2.3% from India, 2.2% from Saudi Arabia, 2.1% from Ukraine, 1.5% from UAE, 1.4% from Pakistan, 1.3 % from each of Kuwait and Kazakhstan, 1.2% from Turkmenistan, 0.9% from each of Iraq dan Great Britain, 0.8% from Uzbekistan, 0.7% from Israel, 6.6% from other countries. Among the visitors, 74% were men, 26% were women.

The number of tourists from Saudi Arabia decreased by 4.1-fold, from China – by 3.5 -fold, from Spain, Oman, and Poland – 2.5-fold, Japan – 2.4-fold, from Qatar and the Netherlands – 2.3-fold, from US, Iraq, Italy, France, and Canada – 2.2-fold.

The number of tourists from the EU decreased by 2.2-fold to 15,600 people, from CIS countries – by 1.4-fold to 197,600 people, from the Gulf countries – by twofold to 70,700 people.

The number of Azerbaijani citizens leaving the country in the reporting period dropped 42.3% to 944,700 people. 33.8% of the citizens left for Iran, 29.8% - for Georgia, 20.4% - for Russia, 9.7% - for Turkey, 6.3% - for other countries. Men constituted 68.9% of travelers, women – 31.1%.