Azernews.Az

The number of hotels in Azerbaijan increased 22.2% in 2009 to reach 452. The number of suites available rose 9.2% to 13,964, and their occupancy reached 30,571 people, according to the State Statistics Committee.
89 of the hotels are located in the capital Baku, while 13 are in Sumgayit, the country`s third largest city, eight each in Ganja, Mingachevir and Naftalan, two in Shirvan, and 22 in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
In northern Azerbaijan, 41 hotels are available in the Khachmaz region, 24 in Guba, nine in Gusar and 10 in Gabala.
There are 30, 12 and eight hotels in the southern Masally, Lankaran and Lerik regions respectively.
Over 100 hotels are operating in other Azerbaijani regions, as well.
The occupancy of the hotels in Baku exceeded 7,700 people, 4,869 in Khachmaz, 3,590 in Naftalan, 1,495 in Nakhchivan, and 1,248 in Masally. In Ganja, Azerbaijan`s second largest city, the hotels can hold 967 people and in Sumgayit the figure is 839.
424,200 people stayed in Azerbaijani hotels in 2009. Compared to 2008, the number of Azerbaijani citizens among hotel tenants increased 3.8% while foreign nationals decreased 6.8%. 49.2% of the tenants were foreigners and 85.9% of the expatriates stayed at hotels in Baku.
Overall, figures show that 57.4% of the tenants stayed at hotels in the capital, while 6.5% in Nakhchivan, 5.6% in Masally, 5.5% in Khachmaz, 3% in Gabala, 2.8% in Mingachevir, 2.2% in Ganja, 1.6% in Guba and Shamakhy each, 1.2% in Ismayilli, 1% in Lankaran, while the rest lodged in hotels located in other districts.*