In 2017, as many as 2,454,000 people visited Azerbaijan and because of it, the country earned more than $3 billion, as per the data of U.S. rating agency Howmuch, Day.az reported.
Azerbaijan ranked second in the post-Soviet space regarding income from tourism. Russia occupied the first place and Georgia was second. At the same time, the tourist number from Georgia was pretty higher, but Azerbaijan earned more.
Nahid Bagirov, the head of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association, in an interview with Dalma News observed that in last year quality was ahead of quantity.
“So called “high-quality” tourists from Arab countries came to Azerbaijan. This influenced the result and budget revenues have increased,” he said.
“Not only should the tourist segment, travel companies, hoteliers, but also other sectors of the economy should earn money. And this is the precise difference between Arab tourists and others. And that’s why we wanted to attract them,” Bagirov added.
The head believe that contrasting to Georgia, where the bet is on mass tourism, Azerbaijan focuses on VIP-tourist and tries to make its strength.
Furthermore, considering that majority of Arabs are Muslim, it is not astonishing that when choosing to go to Christian Georgia or Muslim Azerbaijan, the choice will be made in favor of Azerbaijan.
“Arab tourists are important to the whole world, as they spend more money. In Azerbaijan, the Arab tourists constitute about 20-30 percent,” Bagirov concluded.
