An increase in the number of visitors to the reserves under the State Tourism Agency has been observed in recent years.

According to the information given to APA by the agency, according to the indicators, more tickets were sold to the reserves under the authority of DTA in 2022 than before the pandemic.

Currently, out of the 8 reserves under the State Tourism Agency, the entrance to "Yanardag" State Historical-Cultural and Nature Reserve, "Ateshgah Temple" State Historical-Architectural Reserve, and "Kish" Historical-Architectural Reserve is paid.

It is possible to enter the Khan's palace and several museums within the Sheki "Yukhari Bash" National Historical-Architecture Reserve, as well as the Hamam Museum and the "Diri Baba" tomb within the "Basgal" State Historical-Cultural Reserve.

A total of 341,253 tickets were sold to the named reserves and museums in 2022.

Among the visitors, 162,798 were foreigners and 178,455 were local citizens.

44,577 of these visitors entered the reserve and museums free of charge.

(The group of visitors with free admission includes schoolchildren, disabled and war veterans, veterans, foreign tourists under the age of 12).

In total, 1,693,164 manats were obtained from ticket sales for services provided to tourists in 2022, of which 258,279 manats were paid to the state budget as VAT.

It should be noted that in the years following the establishment of the State Tourism Agency in 2018, an increase in the number of tourists visiting the reserves under the agency was observed.

Thus, in 2018, there were 25,000 visitors to the "Yanardag" State Historical, Cultural and Nature Reserve, and in 2019, this number increased more than three times to 88,000.

According to last year's statistics, more than 110 thousand tourists visited Yanardag.

"Temple of Fire" State Historical-Architectural Reserve had more than 77 thousand visitors in 2018, about 147 thousand in 2019, and about 100 thousand in 2022.

Taking into account that most of the tourists coming to Yanardag and Ateshgah bought a combined ticket that allows access to both nature reserves, in total, tourists coming to Yanardag and Ateshgah in 2022 paid 1 million 271 thousand 298 manats for the ticket.

In 2018, there were 42,000 visitors to the ticketed facilities of the "Yukhari Bash" National Historical-Architectural Reserve in Sheki, but in 2019, this number more than doubled to 107,000.

During the past year, more than 141 thousand tourists visited the historical center of Shaki.

In 2019, the said reserves had a total of 280,618 visitors, and 1 million 410 thousand manats were obtained from ticket sales.

In 2020, due to the fact that nature reserves and museums were closed for a long time due to the pandemic, the number of visitors decreased to 57 thousand people, and the income from ticket sales that year was only 310 thousand manats.

With the restoration of tourism in 2021, there were about 157,000 visitors to the reserves under DTA, and about 400,000 manats were received from ticket sales.

It should be noted that the entrance fees to the reserves and museums under the DTA are 2 AZN for local citizens and 1 AZN for students.

The price for foreign citizens varies between 4-9 manats.

Combined tickets to the Yanardag and Ateshgah Reserves are 11 AZN, the entrance to all the museums and monuments located in the "Yukhari Bash" Reserve is 5 AZN (10 AZN for foreigners).

A 10 percent discount is applied to groups of 10 or more tourists in Yanardag and Basgal reserves.

It should be noted that currently the reserves under the State Tourism Agency include "Yanardag" State Historical-Cultural and Nature Reserve, "Ateshgah Temple" State Historical-Architecture Reserve, "Khinalig" State Historical-Architecture and Ethnographic Reserve, "Lahic" State Historical-Cultural Reserve, " "Yukhari Bash" National Historical-Architectural Reserve, "Kish" Historical-Architectural Reserve, "Beshbarmag Mountain" State Historical-Cultural and Nature Reserve, "Basgal" State Historical-Cultural Reserve and "Diri Baba" tomb within this reserve.