BAKU, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Azerbaijan plans to increase the number of annual foreign visitors from 2.57 million in 2025 to 3.8 million by 2030, an average annual growth rate of 8.1 percent, according to the country's 2026-2030 State Program for Tourism Development approved Thursday.
Tourism revenues from foreign visitors are projected to nearly double to 6.3 billion manats (about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030, up from 3.3 billion manats in 2025.
The program calls for diversifying tourism markets, improving transport and visa accessibility, strengthening international marketing and developing new tourism products, including nature, cultural, winter, health and gastronomic tourism.
Tourism-related sectors are expected to generate about 12.2 billion manats in value added by 2030, representing roughly 40-percent real growth from 2025. Their share of the country's non-oil and gas gross domestic product is projected to rise to 8.6 percent from 7.5 percent in 2025.
Planned measures include expanding visa-free travel, introducing a "digital nomad" visa, broadening international flight connections, developing new tourism products, and building a unified national tourism information system.
