Tourist flow to Azerbaijan increased by 24% in the first half of 2017

“The number of tourists who visited Azerbaijan in the first half of 2017 increased by 24% against the same period in 2016 - up to 1.2 million people”, - informs the press service of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. "In the first half of the year, Azerbaijan was visited by 1 million 199.667 thousand tourists against 966.497 people in January-June 2016", - the ministry said. According to information, in the reporting period most of all Azerbaijan was visited by tourists from Russia - 374.5 thousand people (an increase of 17%). The tourist flow from Georgia in January-June amounted 254.4 thousand people (+ 4%), Iran - 180.1 thousand (+ 89%), UAE 44.2 thousand (+ 338%), Ukraine - 27.3 thousand (+14%) and Iraq - 19.4 thousand (+ 75%). The Office notes that in January-June 2017 the tourist flow from Oman to Azerbaijan increased 16 times, Kuwait 8, Saudi Arabia 6, Qatar and Morocco 5, United Arab Emirates 4.4, Pakistan and Algeria 3.5, Jordan 2.2, Turkmenistan - 2 and Iraq - 1.5 times.