"During the 20 years that the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev led country, a 19-times increase was achieved in the field of tourism and public catering," said Goydaniz Gahramanov, chairman of the board of Association of Travel Agencies of Azerbaijan during Tourism Industry Subjects Forum, Paralel.Az reports.

He said that during this period, the number of foreigners visiting Azerbaijan have increased by more than 3 times.

“At the same time, the number of overnight stays in hotels and hotel-type establishments has increased by almost 8 times. In the last 20 years, the share of tourism in GDP increased from 0.7 % to 3.3 %. The number of salaried employees in the field of tourism increased by 6.5 times, and total employment increased by 4.1 times.”