diff --git a/lib/parser.js b/lib/parser.js
index 7465352c4..329d1244a 100644
--- a/lib/parser.js
+++ b/lib/parser.js
@@ -8,17 +8,18 @@ const parser = module.exports;
  * Convert the template defined value `apiVersion: 'v1'` to only contain the numeric value `1`.
  */
 parser.sanitizeTemplateApiVersion = (apiVersion) => {
+  if (!apiVersion) return;
   if (apiVersion && apiVersion.length > 1) {
-    return apiVersion.substring(1);
+    return Number(apiVersion.substring(1));
   }
-  return apiVersion;
+  return Number(apiVersion);
 };
 
 parser.parse = async (asyncapi, oldOptions, generator) => {
   let apiVersion = this.sanitizeTemplateApiVersion(generator.templateConfig.apiVersion);
   // Defaulting to apiVersion v1 to convert it to the Parser-API v1 afterwards.
   if (!this.usesNewAPI(generator.templateConfig)) {
-    apiVersion = '1';
+    apiVersion = 1;
   }
   const options = convertOldOptionsToNew(oldOptions, generator);
   const parser = NewParser(apiVersion, {parserOptions: options, includeSchemaParsers: true});
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ parser.parse = async (asyncapi, oldOptions, generator) => {
  * If the template expect one of the Parser-API versions, it must be above 0
  */
 parser.usesNewAPI = (templateConfig = {}) => {
-  return Number(this.sanitizeTemplateApiVersion(templateConfig.apiVersion)) > 0;
+  return this.sanitizeTemplateApiVersion(templateConfig.apiVersion) > 0;
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/test/parser.test.js b/test/parser.test.js
index e496a28e9..da7d76c38 100644
--- a/test/parser.test.js
+++ b/test/parser.test.js
@@ -8,21 +8,21 @@ describe('Parser', () => {
   describe('sanitizeTemplateApiVersion', () => {
     it('should return version number when given `v2` syntax', () => {
       const rawVersion = 'v2';
-      const expectedVersion = '2';
+      const expectedVersion = 2;
       const sanitizedVersion = sanitizeTemplateApiVersion(rawVersion);
 
       expect(sanitizedVersion).toStrictEqual(expectedVersion);
     });
     it('should return version number when given `v1` syntax', () => {
       const rawVersion = 'v1';
-      const expectedVersion = '1';
+      const expectedVersion = 1;
       const sanitizedVersion = sanitizeTemplateApiVersion(rawVersion);
 
       expect(sanitizedVersion).toStrictEqual(expectedVersion);
     });
     it('should return version number when given `1` syntax', () => {
       const rawVersion = '1';
-      const expectedVersion = '1';
+      const expectedVersion = 1;
       const sanitizedVersion = sanitizeTemplateApiVersion(rawVersion);
 
       expect(sanitizedVersion).toStrictEqual(expectedVersion);