Georgia Hosts 1 Million International Travelers
The Ministry of Interior Affairs has announced that, in July, almost a million international travelers visited Georgia (982,487), up from 2016 by 217,724 (+28.5%), a fact never before seen in Georgian history. The number of tourists overall has increased by 33%.
“We are happy to see the unprecedented increase in the number of tourists is being maintained in Georgia,” said Giorgi Chogovadze, Head of Georgian National Tourism Administration. “July was no exception. Just the opposite: around one million international travelers visited Georgia, which is a record figure. Generally speaking, 2017 will be a year of new records. Where in 2016, we surpassed 6 million tourists for the first time, in 2017, we will see over 7 million international travelers”.
“The tourism season is in full swing,” Lika Devadze, representative of the Information-Analytical Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia, noted. “According to the data of the Information-Analytical Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the growth in travelers is 32.9% compared to the analogous period of the previous year”.
According to the data of July, the number of those travelers/tourists who spent 24 or more hours in Georgia is 519,349, which surpasses the data of the same month of 2016 by 128,651 (up 32.9%). The top origin countries were Russia (+60.4%), Armenia (+25.4%), Azerbaijan (+13.8%), Turkey (+0.6%) and Iran (+85.8%).
The positive trend is also maintained from the direction of the EU: from The Netherlands with a growth of +43%, the United Kingdom (+34%), Germany (+33%) and France (+33%). A further growth in number was seen in visitors from Lebanon +579%, Jordan +373%, Saudi Arabia +254%, Kuwait +207%, Iran +86% and the USA +65%.
|
|
Country |
2016: |
2017: |
Difference |
Difference in % |
|
1 |
Russia |
136,630 |
219,145 |
82,515 |
60.4% |
|
2 |
Armenia |
166,778 |
209,098 |
42,320 |
25.4% |
|
3 |
Azerbaijan |
167,536 |
190,621 |
23,085 |
13.8% |
|
4 |
Turkey |
140,409 |
141,270 |
861 |
0.6% |
|
5 |
Iran |
24,091 |
44,772 |
20,681 |
85.8% |
|
6 |
Ukraine |
22,496 |
26,171 |
3,675 |
16.3% |
|
7 |
Israel |
13,187 |
17,219 |
4,032 |
30.6% |
|
8 |
Saudi Arabia |
4,777 |
16,885 |
12,108 |
253.5% |
|
9 |
Kazakhstan |
9,849 |
11,272 |
1,423 |
14.4% |
|
10 |
Belarus |
6,763 |
9,704 |
2,941 |
43.5% |
|
11 |
Poland |
7,283 |
7,872 |
589 |
8.1% |
|
12 |
USA |
4,477 |
7,404 |
2,927 |
65.4% |
|
13 |
Germany |
5,383 |
7,155 |
1,772 |
32.9% |
|
14 |
Oman |
3,845 |
5,016 |
1,171 |
30.5% |
|
15 |
India |
3,778 |
3,815 |
37 |
1.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
January-July
3,978,657 international travelers visited Georgia in January, which surpasses the same month of 2016 by 572,195 (up 16.8%). The number of tourists who spent 24 or more hours in Georgia January-July, has reached 1,829,331, which surpasses the same data of 2016 by 423,816 (+30.2%). To sum up the seven months, the leading countries with regards to incoming visitors are from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Iran. From EU, the top countries in this respect are: Austria +52%, the Netherlands +39%, Germany +32%, the United Kingdom +29%, France +26%. Particular growth was seen from Jordan +398%, Lebanon +318%, Saudi Arabia +218%, Kuwait +185%, Iran +170% and Uzbekistan +138%.
Tourism an important sector of the economy
According to the data of the first quarter of 2017, income from international tourism was $434.6 million (up 23.3%), which surpasses the analogous data of 2016 by $82 million. The share of tourism per GDP was 6.8% in the first quarter of 2017, a growth of +0.8% compared to the previous year.
According to the data of January-July of 2017, operations made by international travelers using foreign cards totaled $951,335, up +33.5% compared to 2016.
By Maka Lomadze