Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 14
Trend:
Azerbaijan is a very popular tourist destination for New Year holidays, Chairman of the Association of Tourism of Azerbaijan (AzTA) Nahid Bagirov told Trend Dec. 14.
At the same time, according to the head of AzTA, not only Baku, but also regions of Azerbaijan enjoy popularity among tourists.
"This year Azerbaijan is in great demand among tourists as a destination for New Year holidays."
"Among holidaymakers there are both Azerbaijanis and citizens of other states," Bagirov said.
Bagirov noted that the majority of foreigners coming to Azerbaijan for the New Year holidays are citizens of Arab countries.
"As usual, we are waiting for a large flow of tourists from Arab countries. But apart from that, we observe a great demand among tourists from the CIS countries, in particular from Russia," he said.
Regarding the destinations popular for citizens of Azerbaijan for the New Year holidays, Bagirov noted that the priorities of Azerbaijani citizens have not changed.
"As before, on the New Year vacation Azerbaijanis mainly go to Turkey, Dubai and European countries; this trend has not changed for several years," Bagirov said.
According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan, for 11 months of 2017 the country was visited by 2,477,908 foreign citizens, which is 413,684 people or 20 percent more compared to the same period last year. Most of tourists came from Russia (790,258), followed by Georgia (488,269), Iran (340,702), Turkey (275,147), UAE (87,215), Iraq (58,259), Ukraine (53,583) and Saudi Arabia (32,644).