Record number of Azerbaijanis travel to Turkey
By Amina Nazarli
A record number of Azerbaijani tourists travelled to Turkey this summer, up 30 percent over last year, according to Turkish government data.
The data reveals that 243,421 Azerbaijani tourists visited the neighboring and brotherly country in January-May. The figure is more by about 30 percent compared to the same period of 2016.
In January-May 2016, the number of Azerbaijani tourists visiting Turkey decreased by 10.37 percent to 188,761, compared to the same period of 2015.
Azerbaijan Tourism Association Chairman Nahid Bagirov said that, this year the largest number of Azerbaijani tourists head to Turkey for summer holidays.
“In Azerbaijan, outbound tourism has not recorded such a high growth so far. The number of Azerbaijanis, who left for Turkey last year or in previous years had somewhat decreased, but in July this year it was difficult to find air tickets to Turkey. Moreover, it is impossible to find tickets even for August,” Bagirov told Trend.
The head of AzTA noted that direct flights to Bodrum, Antalya and Izmir are carried out from Baku, adding that sometimes 2-3 flights per day are carried out in these directions, and this is still not enough, because most tourists from Azerbaijan prefer to have a rest at these Turkish resorts.
As for trips to Istanbul, Bagirov added that Azerbaijani tourists traveling to Bodrum and Antalya through Istanbul stay there for several days, continuing their journey to the final destination. However, due to the weather conditions observed recently in Istanbul, Azerbaijani tourists do not stay there for long.
In general, according to Bagirov, this year, like in previous
years, Azerbaijani tourists prefer to rest in Turkey, rather than
in other countries.
"Nevertheless, our compatriots also travel to European countries,
in particular Italy, France, Greece and the Czech Republic, where
there are direct flights," the head of AzTA noted.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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