Officials are happy with touristic season

Georgian officials have stated with satisfaction that in the first 8 months of 2012, more visitors entered Georgia than had been expected. As the National Tourism agency reports, Georgia was visited by 2.7 million people, which is almost one million more than in the same period last year. Government officials are often criticized that not every visitor is a tourist, whereas according to international standards a person who spends 24 hours in the country is a visitor. Officials estimate by the end of this year, 3.6 million tourists will enter the country. Analysts highlight that despite the announcement from the government, tourism is a priority of economic development and there are many shortcomings in this direction. They bring examples of European countries such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy which suffered a lot from the crisis despite the fact that tourism industry is highly developed in those countries.