Number of International Tourists Up

George Chogovadze, Head of the National Tourism Administration under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development has summed up the statistical data for August and the summer tourist season, revealing positive results.

In August 2015, Georgia was visited by 852 377 international tourists a number which has increased by 10% compared to the same period last year. The number of foreign travelers who spent more than 24 hours in Georgia has increased by 2% compared to August of the previous year. This year, during the summer season- June, July and August – 2,086.831 international visitors traveled to Georgia and that has increased by 10% compared to the same period last year.

“We are pleased that in the summer, each month saw an increase in the number of tourists recorded,” said Chogovadze. “The majority of the tourists arrived from the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Russia. Our neighboring countries Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Ukraine have remained unchanged in numbers. We have growth in terms of the hotels as much in Batumi as in Tbilisi.”

A positive trend has been maintained during the last eight months from EU countries, namely, Lithuania (+21%), Czech Republic (+ 20%), Latvia (+ 14%),Germany (+ 12%), Italy (+ 10%), United Kingdom (+ 10%) and Netherlands (+ 10%).From other countries in terms of growth, The United Arab Emirates (+ 76%), Saudi Arabia (+ 75%),Belarus (+ 54%), Kazakhstan (+ 36%) and Moldova (+ 35%) are noteworthy. August was marked by the growth of the United Arab Emirates(+ 76%), Israel (+ 42%), Belarus (+ 69%), Kazakhstan (+ 50%), Oman (+ 36%) and Spain (+ 87%).

For advertising and marketing campaigns of summer 2015, about 8 million GEL was spent. Estimated revenue that resulted by the growth of number of the tourist of the same period of last year (April-July) made up 96 634 009 GEL.

As for economic indicators, the volume of foreign card payments was + 47% in April, + 43% May, + 24% June and + 32% July.

Meri Taliashvili