Georgia’s Tourist Numbers Rise 20% in April

TBILISI – The number of visitors travelling to Georgia continues to grow as 171,235 visitors arrived in the country in April, according to an official statement by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The rise amounts to a 20 per cent year-on-year increase.

During the period, the ministry also said 107,500 people transited through Georgia and 183,745 visitors came for purposes other than tourism. The data represents a 13.0 per cent and 16.8 per cent year-on-year increase, respectively.

April’s overall numbers saw a total of 462,480 international visitors enter into Georgia, a 17.2 per cent more year-on-year increase. The ministry’s data showed that the majority of visitors to Georgia came from Russia (up 26.7 per cent), Ukraine (25.9 per cent), Azerbaijan (7.6 per cent), Turkey (12 per cent) and Armenia (8.7 per cent).

The total number of visitors entering the country since the start of the year also saw a significant upward trend. Georgia hosted 1,596,916 visitors in January-April, a 15.4 per cent increase year-on-year.

The ministry also registered a growing trend for the number of visitors hailing from EU countries. For the January-April period, year-on-year stats showed Italy (26 per cent), Latvia (25 per cent) and France (14 per cent) as the top three European Union countries visiting Georgia.

Belarus and Moldova were the leaders amongst East European countries, with each seeing 36 per cent increase in the number of people visiting Georgia. Uzbekistan was first amongst Central Asian nations after the ministry registered a massive 64 per cent increase in the number of Uzbek passport holders crossing into the country.

A major increase in the number of Israeli (106 per cent) and Emirati (141 per cent) tourists placed the two at the top of the list of Middle Eastern countries whose citizens had entered Georgia.

By Eka Karsaulidze
Edited by Nicholas Waller

Photo: Megha Kaimal