BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 11. Azerbaijan may set up a tourist police, Member of the Board of Azerbaijan Travel Bloggers Association (ATBA) Mirsamad Jafarli said, Trend reports.
He made the remark during panel discussions within a forum of tourism industry subjects in Baku themed “Results of the year on the themes and objectives of the tourism industry on the eve of COP29”.
"Tourist police are specialist police units that provide security and assistance to tourists. It can help in circumstances involving crimes against tourists, provide information and safety advice, and assist with other problems that tourists may encounter while traveling. Tourist police already exist in some countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, and even Uzbekistan. It would be beneficial to establish a tourist police in Azerbaijan," he noted.
Over 2.08 million tourists visited Azerbaijan in 2023 (a growth of 30.2 percent year on year).
The country was visited by 119,094 tourists in January 2023, 113,473 in February, 136,505 in March, 154,233 in April, 190,081 in May, 205,910 in June, 224,826 in July, 200,138 in August, 192,115 in September, 187,843 in October, 169,461 in November, and 192,869 in December last year.
The top 10 countries by the number of foreigners who visited Azerbaijan in December 2023 included Russia (47,347), Türkiye (36,372), Iran (17,526), India (17,524), the United Arab Emirates (11,374), Georgia (10,781), Pakistan (6,090), Kazakhstan (4,823), Uzbekistan (4,441), and Saudi Arabia (4,174).
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