Tourism and Flights Between Turkey and Azerbaijan: 2016–2025 Data

Travel between Türkiye, commonly known as Turkey, and Azerbaijan brings together holidays, business meetings, family visits and cultural encounters. Figures for the last ten completed years show a sharp interruption during the pandemic followed by renewed activity. In this research article from Caspio Nova Group, we bring together visitor arrivals for 2016–2025 and aviation indicators that could be verified.

How to read Turkey–Azerbaijan tourism statistics

Incomplete figures for 2026 are excluded from the annual table. “Turkey → Azerbaijan” refers to foreign visitor entries reported for the Turkish source market. “Azerbaijan → Turkey” refers to entries recorded by Turkey for visitors of Azerbaijani nationality. These measures do not necessarily represent direct journeys between the two countries or distinct individuals. Someone who enters a country more than once can be counted more than once.

Visitor entries, tourism-purpose visits, airline passengers and flight counts measure different things. It would be inaccurate to describe every entry as a holiday tourist. The main table preserves the figures and scope of the selected publications; tourism-purpose figures from a separate statistical bulletin are discussed separately. 1 7

Visitor arrivals over the last decade: 2016–2025

Visitor entries, not unique individuals or solely holiday tourists. *2016–2018: academic reproduction of official yearbook data.

Entries into Turkey come from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s 2025 annual border bulletin. Entries into Azerbaijan use State Tourism Agency reports for 2019–2024 and the Azerbaijan Tourism Board’s chart for 2025. Figures for 2016–2018 are reproduced from an academic table citing the official statistical yearbook. The original official file could not be read directly for those three years, so this indirect sourcing is identified in the source notes. 1 2 3 4 5 6 10

How has travel interest from Turkey to Azerbaijan changed?

Entries reported for the Turkish source market rose from 313,341 in 2016 to 455,829 in 2025. Based on the table, that is an increase of approximately 45.5%. The 2025 figure also stands about 44.0% above the pre-pandemic level in 2019. Activity at the end of the period therefore extends beyond simply recovering the pandemic losses. 2 6 10

For travel planning in Baku and Azerbaijan, it is useful to consider short Baku visits and longer regional itineraries as different needs. A weekend trip places particular weight on transport, hotel location and time spent moving around the city. A longer itinerary adds the practical questions of intercity transfers and accommodation arrangements. This is our editorial interpretation for service planning, rather than a demand breakdown directly established by the arrival figures.

Azerbaijani visitors to Turkey: a ten-year view

Entries into Turkey by visitors of Azerbaijani nationality increased by 52.9% compared with the start of the period. The series peaked in 2024, followed by a 3.0% decline in 2025. Nevertheless, the 2025 level remained 2.8% above 2019. 1

Here too, total entries should not be interpreted solely as demand for holidays. Planning an itinerary requires asking whether the traveller is visiting for sightseeing, family reasons or business. Statistics help establish the scale of a market; the person’s purpose determines which services will be useful.

The pandemic interruption and subsequent recovery

From 2019 to 2020, arrivals in Azerbaijan from the Turkish source market fell by 49.3%, while entries into Turkey by Azerbaijani nationals fell by 73.7%. Both series subsequently recovered. These changes need to be considered alongside the pandemic’s travel restrictions. 1 2

Comparing only the opening and closing years would conceal that interruption. We therefore show every year in the table. Growth measured against a depressed base such as 2020 or 2021 also has a different meaning from growth during a more typical travel period.

Turkey–Azerbaijan flight numbers: verified figures

This research could not verify a consistently defined annual series for the whole of 2016–2025 combining every carrier’s operated flights in both directions. Missing years are therefore not filled with estimates. The table below reproduces the Turkey row from Azerbaijan’s official tourism reports, which identify Azerbaijan Airlines as the source.

Source: STA annual reports, Azerbaijan Airlines data. Do not interpret as all carriers combined in both directions.

Within this published series, the Turkey row increased by 30.7% between 2022 and 2024. However, the tables do not separately clarify coverage of all carriers and outbound versus return flight legs. We therefore do not present these figures as the combined total of every flight between the two countries. 3 4 5

Weekly flight rights and operated services are different

Turkey’s civil aviation authority announced in 2018 that the weekly passenger-service limit had increased from 70 to 126. A 2022 agreement raised weekly frequencies on Istanbul Airport–Baku from 28 to 35 and Antalya–Baku from 7 to 10. These figures describe agreed flight rights, rather than annual totals of operated services. 8 9

Multiplying a weekly entitlement by 52 would assume that the entitlement was fully used every week. We do not make that calculation here. Travellers should also check the airline timetable for their actual travel dates when confirming current flight days and departure times.

How many visits to Azerbaijan were for tourism in 2025?

The State Statistical Committee’s 2025 inbound tourism bulletin records 455,771 entries in the bulletin’s Turkey row, including 217,472 classified as tourism-purpose visits. That total differs from the Tourism Board chart’s 455,829 used in the main table. We preserve each publication’s figures and scope by showing this measure separately, rather than treating the totals as interchangeable. The tourism-purpose classification should not itself be equated solely with holidays; it must be read according to the bulletin’s definitions. 7

This distinction matters in travel articles and advertising, including information shared in our travel and tourism blog. A visitor arriving from the Turkish market and someone travelling specifically for a holiday are not the same statistical measure. Explaining which visits a source counts is more useful to readers than presenting the largest available number as a holiday-tourism total.

Does air travel account for every visitor entry?

Turkey’s 2025 bulletin records 562,460 air arrivals by visitors of Azerbaijani nationality, or 60.7% of the total. Other entries used different transport modes. Total visitor entries therefore cannot be converted directly into airline passenger or flight counts. 1

What do the figures mean for travel planning?

The figures suggest that the travel connection remained strong at the end of the period. Our assessment is that Azerbaijan travel planning is most useful when transport, accommodation and the local itinerary are considered together. A comparison based only on an airline ticket does not explain the traveller’s overall time commitment or experience.

When planning a Turkey–Azerbaijan journey, clarify your dates, number of nights and purpose of visit. Explore the Caspio Nova Group contact page for information about discussing your travel needs and available options.

Frequently asked questions

Do the arrival figures count unique people?

No. The entry series used here measures visitor movements. Repeat visits can count as additional entries, so these figures should not be treated as the number of distinct individuals.

Does a flight entitlement prove that a service operated?

No. An entitlement describes the capacity permitted by an agreement. Actual flight counts require operational records.

Why is 2026 missing from the main table?

This research was prepared on 14 October 2026. Since 2026 is incomplete, the comparison uses the last ten full years, 2016–2025.

Sources and methodology

[1] T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı — 2025 Yıllık Sınır Giriş-Çıkış İstatistikleri. 2025 annual Excel bulletin, table C: Azerbaijan row, 2016–2025. Table T2: transport modes. The workbook was downloaded and read directly.

[2] Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency — Annual Tourism Statistics 2021. Table 1: arrivals in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Publication figures are preserved.

[3] Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency — Annual Tourism Statistics 2022. A1: Turkish-market arrivals. A4: Turkey row, 4,446 flights; Azerbaijan Airlines is identified as the source.

[4] Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency — Annual Tourism Statistics 2023. Turkish-market arrivals: 378,204. A5: Turkey row, 5,607 flights.

[5] Azerbaijan State Tourism Agency — Annual Tourism Statistics 2024. A1: 426,241 arrivals. A5: Turkey row, 5,813 flights.

[6] Azerbaijan Tourism Board — Türkiye country profile, arrivals chart. 2025 figure, 455,829, read directly from the chart. Q1 2026 is excluded from the annual comparison.

[7] Azerbaijan State Statistical Committee — Inbound tourism 2025. Turkey row: 455,771 total entries, including 217,472 for tourism purposes. Kept separate from S6.

[8] SHGM — Türkiye ve Azerbaycan Yeni Uçuşlar için Anlaştı, 23 Temmuz 2018. 2018 announcement: weekly rights 70→126. Not an annual count of operated services.

[9] SHGM — Türkiye ve Azerbaycan Sivil Havacılık Otoriteleri Yeni Uçuşlar İçin Anlaştı. Weekly rights: Istanbul–Baku 28→35; Antalya–Baku 7→10. The 2022 date was checked against contemporaneous reporting.

[10] Impact of Tourism Development in Azerbaijan on the Regional Socio-Economic Development — Table 1 (2020). 2016–2018 figures taken from an academic table citing the official yearbook. The original official file could not be read directly.