Tourists 9.9% More

In the first half of this year Azerbaijan was visited by 1,197,000 foreign nationals. This is 9.9% more than in the same period in 2012, Turan was told in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The bulk of the tourists are citizens of Russia (418,000 people or 35 %) and Georgia (400,500 or 33.4 %). In Russia, there are around 2 million Azerbaijanis. Many of them left Azerbaijan in the 90- ies of the last century. Most of them took Russian citizenship, but also preserve Azerbaijani citizenship. And living in Georgia are 0.5 million ethnic Azeris, who have relatives in the Azerbaijan Republic. The definition of tourists as people who come to visit their relatives and their homes is not true, experts say. The concept of tourist comes from the French [touriste] - a man traveling from curiosity or for the purpose of recreation and entertainment.

From Turkey in the first half of this year in Azerbaijan profit 173,800 people, and from Iran - 70 200 people. From Europe during this period Azerbaijan visited 51,000 people, most of whom had a business visit. In this case, according to the International Labor Conference, the flow of tourists from EU countries increased 22.9 %. The remaining 83,200 persons represent other regions.

In 2012, Azerbaijan was visited by 2.5 million foreigners. - 08D-