According to the State Statistical Committee, 2,000 foreign citizens visited Azerbaijan for religious purposes in 2025. This figure has caused discussions, considering the country's rich religious and cultural heritage.
Tourism expert Samir Dubandi, in a statement to Modern.az regarding the issue, said that religious tourism in Azerbaijan is still an area measured more by potential than by numbers.
According to him, the approximately 2,000 tourists who came to the country for religious purposes in 2025 do not fully reflect the real picture.
"This indicator mainly covers tourists whose travel purpose is officially recorded as 'religious pilgrimage'. However, many foreign guests visit religious monuments as part of a cultural tour, historical route, city excursion, or regional trip. Therefore, I would evaluate this figure not as a weakness of potential, but as the religious and cultural heritage not yet being fully transformed into a tourism product."
Azerbaijan is one of the rare countries that can present several religious heritages simultaneously
The expert stated that one of Azerbaijan's main advantages is its ability to present heritage belonging to different religions and civilizations within the same route.
According to him, the Bibi-Heybat and Taza Pir mosques, the religious and cultural heritage of Icherisheher, the Ateshgah temple, the Shamakhi Juma Mosque, the Ganja Imamzadeh complex, the Kish temple in Sheki, the Albanian-Udi heritage in the village of Nij in Gabala, the Red Town and synagogues of Guba, as well as Ashabi-Kahf in Nakhchivan, can create a strong tourism route reflecting Azerbaijan's multicultural identity.
S. Dubandi believes that the main issue is not just presenting these monuments as a list.
"For a foreign tourist, the name of the sanctuary is not enough. They need history, explanation, logistics, professional guide service, multilingual information, easy access, and modern visitor infrastructure. Religious tourism is also a sensitive area. A balance must be maintained between the commercial approach and spiritual values here."
The problem is not in the potential, but in its presentation
According to Samir Dubandi, the main factors currently hindering the development of religious tourism are weak international promotion, a lack of ready-made routes, a shortage of thematic guides, limited multilingual information systems, and insufficient infrastructure development in some areas.
"We should look at this area not only as pilgrimage tourism but as religious-cultural heritage, history, architecture, and tolerance tourism. If Azerbaijan wants to increase the numbers in religious tourism, it must present the whole story, not just individual monuments, to an international audience. The story of Azerbaijani tolerance, extending from ancient beliefs to Islam, from Albanian heritage to Jewish culture."
Tourism expert Jeyhun Ashirov also stated that religious tourism is one of the directions that tourists visiting the country show interest in.
According to him, regardless of the purpose for which tourists come to the country, they also use other tourism products during their visit.
"Even if people travel for religious, medical, gastronomic, or business purposes, they get acquainted with other tourist attractions and use various services in their free time. In this regard, religious tourism is also an integral part of the overall tourism product."
Halal tourism standard increases tourist satisfaction
The expert reminded that a halal tourism standard has also been adopted in Azerbaijan to improve the quality of services for tourists coming for religious purposes.
"The halal tourism standard has been adopted by the Azerbaijan Standardization Institute. The main goal here is to organize services provided to tourists coming for religious purposes in accordance with unified standards and to increase tourist satisfaction."
One of the main obstacles is high transport costs
Jeyhun Ashirov stated that although there was an initiative to include Azerbaijan in the route of tourists going for Umrah pilgrimage from Indonesia, this project did not materialize.
In his opinion, one of the main reasons for this is the high cost of visiting the country.
"To increase the number of tourists, we need to offer various tourism products. But first and foremost, coming to the country should be affordable. If transport costs account for 40-45 percent of the tour package, this significantly increases the price. Tourists worldwide prefer more affordable destinations. In Azerbaijan, entry and exit are mainly carried out by air transport, and air ticket prices are less competitive compared to neighboring countries. This directly affects the number of tourists visiting the country."
