BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug.10
By Fidan Babayeva - Trend:
The rapid spread of coronavirus infection in the world had a negative impact on the tourism sector in most countries from January through June 2020, and it is also observed in Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee.
According to the committee, a decrease in the activity of hotels and hotel-type enterprises, which are the main elements of the tourist infrastructure, was recorded in Azerbaijan in the reporting period, compared to the same period of 2019.
As many as 585,900 nights accounted for the hotels in Azerbaijan in the first half of 2020, which is 55.9 percent less than in the same period of last year.
The main reason for the decline was a sharp decrease in the number of overnight stays of tourists in March 2020 due to the introduction of restrictive measures on the state border between Azerbaijan and neighboring countries and in the field of transport communication with most countries to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection.
In the first six months, about 58.8 percent of total overnight stays in hotels accounted for Baku, 8.1 percent - for Gabala, 8 percent - for Gusar, 4.7 percent - for Guba, 4.2 percent - for Naftalan, 3.1 percent – for Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (AR), 1.7 percent - for Lankaran, 1.4 percent - for Shabran, 1.1 percent - for Mingachevir, 0.8 percent – for Ganja, and 8.1 percent - for other districts and cities.
The absolute majority (75.3 percent) of foreign tourists stayed in Baku, 7.2 percent in Gusar, 4.8 percent in Gabala, 4.5 percent in Naftalan, 3.7 percent in Nakhchivan AR, 2.3 percent in Guba, and 2.2 percent in hotels of other districts and cities.
In total, from January through June 2020, the number of nights spent by foreigners and stateless people decreased by 64.3 percent compared to the same period of 2019 and amounted to 340,800 or 58.2 percent of the total number of overnight staya.
In the first quarter of 2020, 474,600 nights accounted for the hotels in Azerbaijan, which is 13 percent less than in the same period of 2019.