How many tourists visit Azerbaijan?
By Naila Huseynli
The visit purpose of foreigners coming to Azerbaijan is a recreation and entertainment, while Azerbaijani citizens are traveling abroad mostly for business purposes.
In 2017, 2,454,000 people out of total 2,696,700 foreigners and stateless persons coming to Azerbaijan, visited the country for tourism purposes.
As many as 839,300 tourists visited Azerbaijan for recreation and entertainment purposes, 834,400 overseas for business, 49,100 for treatment, 14,700 for religious purposes, and 674,900 came to visit their relatives and friends.
Some 41,600 people visited Azerbaijan for other tourism purposes and 242,700 for other purposes.
Over the past year, tourists from Russia, Georgia, Iran and Turkey dominated among the tourists who came to Azerbaijan.
Number of foreigners traveling to Azerbaijan in 2017 increased in comparison with 2016 (2. 24 million people), and there was an increase in the number of tourists coming to the country for the purpose mentioned last year. However, it is clear from the previous years that the sequence of the purpose of the tourists' visits to Azerbaijan has not changed. Over the past years, tourists visited Azerbaijan in order to get more rest and entertainment.
As for Azerbaijani citizens traveling abroad, in 2017, 3.44 million out of 4.10 people left the country for tourism purposes.