World Bank outlines Azerbaijan tourism challenges

Azerbaijan recorded a 5% year-on-year decline in aviation passenger arrivals in the first quarter of 2026, according to the World Bank’s “Tourism Watch: June 2026” report.

World Bank tourism specialist Shaun Mann said in Baku that one of the main challenges for Azerbaijan’s tourism sector was to move beyond a model centred mainly on Baku and develop attractive destinations in the regions.

He said Baku had been developed as a successful tourism destination, but the capital needed to be complemented by other locations to encourage visitors to stay longer in the country.

Mann said the goal should be to offer tourists not only Baku, but a “Baku+” experience, encouraging travel to the regions and longer stays.

The World Bank official also said Azerbaijan’s tourism market faced a structural challenge because visitor flows were concentrated in a small number of source markets, making the sector more vulnerable to external risks.

He said Azerbaijan still needed to address gaps in service quality, the range of tourism products and the broader development of the tourism ecosystem.

N.Tebrizli