Azerbaijan ranked 10th out of 130 countries in the ranking of the most popular destinations for Islamic tourism, says the annual report by Crescent Rating agency entitled 2018 Global Muslim Travel Index.

The number of foreign citizens arriving in Azerbaijan increased by 12.6 percent in the first three months of this year as compared to the same period of 2017, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a message on April 10.

Millions of people worldwide celebrate the arrival of spring with the festive Novruz holiday. People from the countries celebrating Novruz often travel abroad during this holiday. This year, Azerbaijan was, as usual, the country that many of the tourists chose as a destination during Novruz.

Azerbaijan, which is gradually becoming an outstanding tourist country, entered the top ten most affordable tourist destinations for Russian tourists.

In recent years, sea cruises have gained increasing popularity among tourists from all over the world. More importantly, they have become more affordable for a wide range of travelers.

“There is considerable room for growth and diversification of trade flows between Portugal and Azerbaijan”

Azerbaijani ambassador to Kazakhstan Rashad Mammadov has proposed developing joint tourism packages for foreign tourists as he met with director of Kazakhstan Tourism Industry Department Marat Igaliyev. Mammadov said tourism authorities and agencies in both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan could cooperate in preparing tourism packages for increasing the flow of foreign tourists.

Baku, the capital and largest city of energy-rich Azerbaijan, has already turned into one of the important and most-visited tourist destinations in Asia.

The Land of Fire is targeting to expand the geography of visiting tourists by attracting citizens of such Asian countries as Japan, Korea and Indonesia.

The growing popularity of Azerbaijan among foreign tourists has led to the emergence of a new trend in the field of local hospitality - rural tourism.