STEPANAKERT. - The number of tourists visiting Karabakh reduced in 2016.

Foreign Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Karen Mirzoyan said the aforementioned at a meeting with reporters Wednesday.

''Although the year hasn't yet finished and the figures are still being summed up, as of today we have a 17 percent drop as compared with last year. That is, we had about 14,000 visitors this year against 16,500 last year. But the drop in the number of visitors has nothing to do with the policy adopted by Azerbaijan. The main reason is the April events: many people simply chose not to visit Artsakh, considering the security conditions,'' he said.

The FM also noted that the Artsakh authorities are continuing the work aimed at presenting the tourism attractiveness of Artsakh to the world.

''In this context we are closely cooperating with the Tourism Department of the Artsakh Economy Ministry. The presentation on the possibilities of Atrsakh tourism, which took place in Brussels in fall, was an interesting step made in that direction. We will continue to cooperate with our partners aiming to voice and disseminate the truth about Artaskh, as well as establish business ties.''