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Laman Ismayilova

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Azerbaijan's tourism industry is gradually recovering from the pandemic. The State Tourism Agency is taking significant steps towards tourism recovery.

Speaking with journalists, chairman of the State Tourism Agency Fuad Naghiyev said that the number of tourists coming to Azerbaijan is the same as when the borders were open before the pandemic, Azernews reports.

"We have temporarily lost tourists from neighboring countries crossing the land borders. We are waiting for the decision of the Operational Headquarters regarding the opening of land borders. The closure of land borders has not had any effect on the growth of domestic tourism. These factors are not related to each other", Fuad Naghiyev said.

He added that negotiations are underway with CIS countries, Turkiye and Israel for the development of tourism in the liberated territories.

"We are negotiating with both local and foreign investors regarding investments in tourism, including Azerbaijan's territories liberated from occupation. Several investors are still interested in Shaki city. These are related to the restoration and processing of certain historical monuments," the chairman said.

In his remarks, Fuad Naghiyev emphasized that the interest of foreign tourists to visit the country's western region by train has increased. However, there is a shortage of hotels in that region.

"Azerbaijan's western region is an interesting tourist destination. Our destination Management operates in the city of Ganja, and where it has developed a project of tourism opportunities for the region. There is a need for investments in accommodation facilities in that region," said Naghiyev.

Chairman of the State Tourism Agency Fuad Naghiyev said that changeable weather conditions in Azerbaijan have been creating difficulties for tourism opportunities for some time.

He noted that since the beginning of the summer season, the unstable weather conditions cause serious damage to the owners of tourist facilities. The chairman said that the beach season lasts from June 15 to September.

"Due to the large number of rainy and windy days this year, citizens cannot plan their holidays. The damage caused by floods and floods to tourism has not yet been calculated," he said.

Note that around 918,800 foreigners and stateless persons came to Azerbaijan from 181 in January-June, 2023.

According to the State Statistics Committee, 32.9 percent of the arrivals came from the Russian Federation, 19.2 percent from Turkiye, 7.7 percent from Iran, 5.2 percent from India, 4.9 percent from Georgia, 2.4 percent from Saudi Arabia, from each Pakistan and Kazakhstan with 2.3 percent, United Arab Emirates with 2.1 percent, Uzbekistan with 1.8 percent, Belarus and Ukraine with 1.5 percent each, Kuwait with 1.3 percent, Great Britain with 1.2 percent and Turkmenistan, 12.5 percent were citizens of other countries.

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