Official: Tourist flow between St. Petersburg and Baku on the rise
By Ayya Lmahamad
The tourist flow between Russia’s St Petersburg and Azerbaijan’s Baku is rapidly increasing, St. Petersburg City Tourist Information Bureau Director Yuri Bogdanov said, Azernews reports per Trend.
He emphasized that despite the post-pandemic period, direct flights have been established between the cities.
Yuri Bogdanov also mentioned that special tourist programs are being mutually created to increase the flow of tourists from both cities.
Moreover, Advisor to the Chairman of the Association of Travel Agencies Rufat Hajiyev stated that about 200,000 Azerbaijanis visited Russia in 2022, adding that this number should reach up to 300,000 by year-end.
“Approximately 900,000-920,000 people visited Russia annually since 2017, before the start of the pandemic. However, during the pandemic, in particular in 2021, this number significantly dropped to 200,000 people,” he said.
Meanwhile, a representative of St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, Anna Stepanova highlighted that the growth of passenger traffic between the airports of Baku and Saint Petersburg amounted to 11 percent.
“Three airlines currently carry out passenger transportation between the cities: Utair, Azerbaijan Airlines, and Ir-Aero,” she said.
She added that a total of 18,000 passengers arrived in St. Petersburg from Azerbaijan in January-July 2022.
“In addition, the number of search queries for tours from Baku to St. Petersburg from January through July 2022 more than doubled compared to the same period last year,” she said.
Additionally, Trade Representative of Russia in Azerbaijan Ruslan Mirsayapov stated that Azerbaijan may enter the TOP-10 most visited countries by Russian tourists.
“Azerbaijan ranks 14 in terms of the volume of tourist trips to Russia. I am sure that through joint efforts we will achieve Azerbaijan’s entry into at least in the TOP-10 countries most visited by tourists from Russia,” he said.
Azerbaijan and Russia cooperate in different sectors, such as economy, agriculture, customs, communications, high technology, and others. Over 230 intergovernmental and intercompany documents have been signed between the two countries and six "road maps" are being implemented.
Azerbaijan's investments in the Russian economy have exceeded $1.2 billion, with the majority of the investments being in the non-oil sector. In addition, Russian investments in Azerbaijan's economy totaled $6.3 billion with $5 billion in the oil sector and $1.3 billion in non-oil sectors.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to $2.9 billion in 2021, making Russia Azerbaijan’s third-largest partner.
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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad
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