Baku:Azerbaijan experienced a 6% decrease in foreign arrivals during the first nine months of 2026, with 1,831.8 thousand foreigners and stateless persons visiting from 191 countries, as per the State Border Service. This figure reflects a decline compared to the same period in the previous year, as reported by the State Statistical Committee.
According to Azeri-Press news agency, the largest share of visitors came from the Russian Federation at 27.1%, followed by Turkey at 19.4%, Iran at 7.7%, and Georgia at 4.9%. Other notable countries of origin included Kazakhstan, Israel, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Belarus. Men represented 66.8% of the arrivals, while women accounted for 33.2%.
The data further reveals that there was a 6.1% increase in visitors from European Union member states, reaching 94.2 thousand, and a 4.3% rise in visitors from CIS countries, totaling 699.0 thousand. Conversely, arrivals from Gulf countries saw a significant decrease of 32.0%, dropping to 218.3 thousand, with other countries also showing a 5.5% decline to 820.3 thousand. The majority of visitors, 73.5%, traveled by air, while 25.2% used railway and road transport, and 1.3% arrived by sea.
In contrast, the number of Azerbaijani citizens traveling abroad decreased by 1.8% to 1,575.3 thousand during the same period. The most popular destination was Turkey, visited by 44.0% of Azerbaijani travelers, an increase of 2.3% from the previous year. Other destinations included the Russian Federation, Georgia, Iran, and various other countries. Men made up 64.1% of those traveling abroad, with women comprising 35.9%. Among Azerbaijani travelers, 70.4% used air transport, 27.6% used railway and road transport, and 2.0% opted for sea transport.