Baku: Tourist arrivals to Azerbaijan have seen a slight decline in the first eleven months of this year, with a total of 2.3 million foreigners and stateless persons from 189 countries visiting the country. This marks a 2 percent decrease compared to the same period last year, as reported by the State Statistical Committee to APA-Economics.
According to Azeri-Press News Agency, the majority of tourists came from the Russian Federation, accounting for 24.2 percent of the arrivals, followed by visitors from Turkey at 17.6 percent, and Iran at 8.1 percent. Other notable sources of tourists include India, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan, among others. The demographic breakdown of the arrivals shows that 66.7 percent were men and 33.3 percent were women.
Despite the overall decline, notable increases in tourist numbers were observed from several countries. Arrivals from Israel surged by 2.3 times, while those from Tajikistan increased by 1.7 times. Additionally, significant rises were noted from Jordan, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Italy, and Germany. In contrast, arrivals from European Union member states grew by 4.7 percent, while those from Gulf countries and CIS countries experienced declines of 2.8 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively.
When it comes to the mode of transport, 76.0 percent of the visitors entered Azerbaijan by air, 22.7 percent through rail and road, and a small fraction of 1.3 percent used sea transport.