Azernews.Az

By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

The number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan increased by 11.1 percent year-on-year in the period of January to November reaching 2.9 million, Azerbaijani State Tourism Agency has reported.

The number of foreign citizens visiting Azerbaijan in January-November 2019 increased by 292,000 compared to the same period in 2018.

One-third of the visitors were Russian citizens. Thus, compared to January-November 2018, the number of Russian tourists increased by 49,000 people or six percent.

The highest growth was observed among tourists from Georgia, Central and South Asia rising by 20.2, 46.7 and 38 percent respectively. Overall, 661,000 (Georgia), 120,000 (Central Asia) and 107,000 (South Asia) foreign citizens from these countries traveled to Azerbaijan during the mentioned period.

As in previous months, the most considerable number of arrivals in Central Asia came from Turkmenistan (49,000 – a significant growth of 91.9 percent) and Kazakhstan (43,000 – 24.5 percent growth).

Among South Asian countries India (59,000 – a significant growth of 67.7 percent) and Pakistan (42,000 – 12.2 percent growth) were distinguished countries for the number of tourists, traveled to Azerbaijan.

The number of foreign visitors from Turkey and Iran increased by 8.3 and 3.7 percent, reaching 289,000 and 235,000 accordingly.

Along with this, there was a 4 percent decline in the number of tourists from the Middle East. Except for Israel (14.5 percent growth) and Saudi Arabia (46.5 percent growth), there has been a drop in the number of arrivals from other Middle Eastern countries.

During January-November, 93,000 or 9 percent more foreign visitors visited Azerbaijan from countries (China, India, Russia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, UAE) where Azerbaijani tourism representative offices are operating.

The highest growth was recorded for India, China and Saudi Arabia. The number of arrivals from the UAE also declined by 29.8 percent.

Moreover, in November, the number of foreign citizens traveling to Azerbaijan increased by 13.3 percent compared to the same month of 2018 (195,000) and reached 241,000. This year's growth is twice higher than the November 2018 growth (6 percent).

Tourists from Russia (69,000) and Georgia (68,000) to top the list of visitors to Azerbaijan in 2019.

The highest growth rates are observed for Iran, as well as for the countries of South and Central Asia with 33.5 percent, 40.1 percent and 35.5 percent accordingly.

Among the South Asian countries, India has shown a noticeable increase of 76.3 percent for the number of visitors to Azerbaijan.

Furthermore, the number of tourists from Turkey

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