In July 2019, 365 thousand foreign travelers visited Azerbaijan, which is an increase of 10.6% compared to July 2018. Eurasia Diary informs citing to State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
More than one third, 35%, arrived from Russia; the increase in the number of travelers from Russia amounted to 11 thousand or 10%, compared with the same month of 2018. The largest increase of travelers, 12 thousand or 26%, is observed for Georgia: 61 thousand came in July. From countries of the Middle East, the number of travelers decreased by 7 thousand or 10% to 60 thousand.
It should be noted that the number of travelers from Saudi Arabia increased by 25% to a record of 29 thousand; for other countries of the Middle East like Iraq, the UAE, Oman and Kuwait, a decrease is observed. From Turkey, Iran, Central and South Asia arrived 29, 21, 14 and 12 thousand travelers, a growth amounting to 6%, 10%, 41% and 25%, respectively. As in recent months, India (7 thousand; 81% increase) and Pakistan (5 thousand; 13% decrease) are the main tourist markets of South Asia, while Kazakhstan (6 thousand; 26% increase) and Turkmenistan (6 thousand; 68% increase) of Central Asia.
In the period January-July of the current year, Azerbaijan was visited by 1.8 million foreign travelers, which is 122 thousand and 7.4% more compared with the first seven months of 2018. The largest increase is observed for travelers from Georgia: 76 thousand or 23% more travelers came to Azerbaijan.
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There are also substantial increases in travelers from Central and South Asia, by 39% and 44%, respectively. For Russia and Turkey, top touristic markets with 542 and 176 thousand travelers, increases of about 4% are observed. Emerging markets are countries of South and Central Asia, the most rapid growth in the number of travelers being observed for India, 80% to 33 thousand, and Turkmenistan, 81% to 27 thousand. The number of travelers from Iran decreased by 23% to 127 thousand, those from the Middle East by 6% to 205 thousand.
It is worth noting that from Western European countries, a region which traditionally is of only limited touristic relevance for Azerbaijan, the number of travelers increased by 14 thousand or 25% to 71 thousand.
