BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 4. Azerbaijan rolled out the red carpet for circa 18,000 tourists from Central Asian countries in August 2024, making a significant jump compared to the same time last year in 2023, Trend reports.
According to the State Agency for Tourism of Azerbaijan, visitors from Kazakhstan totaled over 9,000, reflecting a 20 percent increase from last year. Tourists from Uzbekistan numbered around 4,300, a slight decrease of 1 percent.
Visitors from Turkmenistan reached nearly 2,900, showing a 16 percent rise, while arrivals from Kyrgyzstan surged by 49 percent to around 800. Conversely, Tajikistan saw a 22 percent decline, with 393 visitors.
From January to August 2024, Azerbaijan received over 117,000 tourists from Central Asia, a 43 percent increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Overall, Azerbaijan hosted more than 1.7 million international visitors in the first eight months of this year, a 30 percent increase from the previous year.
In comparison, in 2023, Azerbaijan attracted over 2 million foreign tourists, a 30.2 percent rise from 2022, including over 134,000 from Central Asia, up 82.31 percent from the previous year.
Between 2017 and 2023, Azerbaijan welcomed over 545,000 tourists from Central Asia, with Kazakhstan contributing the largest number, followed by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.