Survey Shows Majority of Georgians Vacation Once a Year
Arecent study conducted by Analysis & Consulting Team (ACT), a global research and consulting company covering the CIS countries and Eastern Europe with offices in Georgia, Azerbaijan & Kazakhstan, revealed that 43% of Georgians manage to go on vacation within the country only once a year.
20% of respondents stated they are unable to have a vacation within Georgia. Among that 20%, people 65+ represent the majority (46%).
Lack of money (63%) is the main reason why people cannot have a vacation. The other reason is lack of time (37%), named by 35-44 year-old respondents (73%).
“It is noteworthy that men (47%) are more likely not to go on holiday due to lack of time than women (30%), while the absence of money hinders women (69%) more than men (57%),” the survey reads.
The remaining respondents who manage to vacation prefer seaside resorts (55%). Mountain resorts are almost as popular, visited by 44% of respondents. 36% of the surveyed people visit friends' / relatives’ or their own houses in villages; with 65+ respondents doing so most often (60%).
Summer is the most popular season for vacationers in Georgia, with 94% of people saying they prefer to take a vacation in summer.
Around 41% of families spend from 500 ($203) to 1000 GEL ($406) during their vacations, while 500 GEL or less is enough for 28% of the surveyed families.
Moreover, 55% of the respondents who travel within Georgia accumulate the budget throughout the whole year. 25% of the respondents do not need to save money for leisure (men – 33%, women – 20%), while 8% of holidaymakers need to take a bank loan or make an installment in order to collect the required amount.
Georgia’s population is around 3,729,600 people. Almost 22% of them are under the absolute poverty line, shown by the latest data of 2017 poverty indicators published by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
The average monthly income in Georgia was 1,016 GEL (about $413) in 2017, says the Geostat data. Last year the annual unemployment rate in Georgia declined by 0.1 percentage points and equaled 13.9%.
By Thea Morrison