Economy Minister Claims Georgia’s Tourist Numbers Up 17% Since January

TBILISI - More than 4 million tourists have visited Georgia during since January 1, according to Vice Prime Minister and the Economics Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili said on Friday.

Kumsishvili added that the number of tourists visiting the country had increased 17.4 per cent since the start of the year

He also said the National Statistics Office of Georgia had registered 5.9 million foreign visitors arriving in Georgia since January 1, a 7 per cent year-on-year increase.

The majority of visitors came from EU members Latvia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The number of travellers arriving from Russia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia also increased significantly.

Kumsishvili credited the substantial growth in the tourism industry to an online campaign launched by the National Tourism Administration.

“During the last eight months more than 200 articles, blogs, and TV shows about Georgia were published and screened for an international audience,” said Kumsishvili.

Kumsishvili was quick to point out that 172 new hotels began operating in the last year, hinting that the ruling Georgian Dream coalition should be given full credit for expanding Georgia’s hospitality industry by overseeing the construction and opening of 508 new hotels since 2013.

“More than half of the existing hotels in Georgia were created by our government. This is the result of our hard work,” Kumsishvili said while adding that an additional and 60 hotels will be built in the next year.

In addition to building new hotels throughout the country, the Georgian Dream claims a new terminal at the Tbilisi Airport will be finished by no later than 2017.

The party hopes this will boost the local economy by providing hundreds of temporary and full-time jobs.

The construction of a new terminal would be a significant boon for Georgia’s tourism industry, which still relies on relatively small Soviet-era airports in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi to service international travellers.

Tbilisi’s airport has been plagued this year by an ill-advised decision to close the facility during the prime daylight business hours, and during the height of the tourism season, to service the airport’s runway.

The daily closures forced passengers to fly in and out of the nation’s capital late at night or early in the morning.

By Thea Morrison

Edited by Nicholas Waller