According to official information from Azerbaijani Tourism Agency, March is the month when Iranian tourists go to foreign countries the most because there is a holiday. From the statistical indicators before the pandemic, it is clear that although most Russian and Turkish citizens traveled to Azerbaijan in other months, Iran took first place in March. 68,000 Iranian citizens arrived in Azerbaijan in March 2017, and 71,000 in the same month of 2018. In 2019, this number decreased by almost 50 percent to 35 thousand people. The difficulty of livelihood in Iran was considered the reason for this decrease.

"The flow of tourists has stopped since 2020 since the pandemic was declared in the world. In March of that year, only 4,000 people visited Azerbaijan from Iran. This number increased to 8 thousand in 2021 and 15 thousand 638 last year. Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have reached a critical level after the escalation of relations between Iran and Azerbaijan, especially after the armed attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran. In this regard, the impact of such events on Iranian tourists' visits to Azerbaijan on the eve of the Nowruz holiday is of particular interest," the report said.

According to the information, 12 thousand tourists came to Azerbaijan from Iran in March of this year. This means a 22 percent decrease compared to the same period last year. In the previous year, there was no tightening due to the pandemic; on the contrary, some restrictions have been lifted. Therefore, the 22 percent decrease recorded in 2023 can be attributed to the deterioration of the political situation.