Azerbaijan received 22,000 tourists in the nine months of 2016, sector head in planning and development division of Azerbaijan’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, Mahir Gahramanov said.

He made the remarks during the discussion of the draft “Law on Tourism” in Azerbaijani Parliament’s Labor and Social Policy Committee.

Gahramanov added that simplification of visa regime for a number of countries helped increase the tourist flow into Azerbaijan.

For comparison, he noted, 750 tourists from Dubai traveled to Azerbaijan in 2015, whereas their number exceeded 9,500 in the six months of 2016, and the number of tourists who visited Azerbaijan in the nine months of 2016 amounted to 22,000.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree June 1 on simplification of e-visa issuance and creation of the ASAN Visa system. Foreigners and stateless persons arriving in Azerbaijan can obtain e-visas through the ASAN Visa, according to the decree. The period of stay with a single-entry visa is up to 30 days.

Visas are issued through a single online portal in three days without applying to state organizations.

Source: en.trend.az