Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 9
By Ilhama Isabalayeva - Trend:
Compared to 2017, the number of Emirati tourists arriving in Azerbaijan has decreased in 2018, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) Nahid Bagirov told Trend on Oct. 9.
Though, in 2018, the number of tourists from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has increased, Bagirov added.
"In general, the number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan increased by 9 percent compared to the same period of 2017," Bagirov said.
The head of AzTA also stressed that among the guests there are tourists who do not visit Azerbaijan for the first time and they are mainly from Arab countries.
The State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan had earlier reported that in January-August 2018, 1,976,900 foreigners and stateless persons from 193 countries arrived in Azerbaijan, which is 8.5 percent more compared to the corresponding period of 2017.
In January-August, the number of arrivals from the Gulf countries increased (with the exception of the UAE and Iran).
Compared to the same period of 2017, the number of visitors from these countries increased 2.2 times, including citizens of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain - 2.4 times, citizens of Qatar - 1.9 times, Iraqis - 19 percent and citizens of Oman - 9.5 percent.
The number of arrivals in Azerbaijan from the UAE decreased by 5.6 percent and from Iran by 25.4 percent.
The total number of arrivals from the Gulf countries increased by 0.5 percent, which amounted to 433,600 people.
In general, every fifth person who arrived in Azerbaijan was from the Gulf countries.