Georgia receives $1.1 billion from international tourism in first half of 2017

Georgia hosted more than 6.4 million international travelers during the first 10 months of 2017, says the head of the National Tourism Administration.

Giorgi Chogovadze said that a total of 6,430,824 international visitors entered Georgia in January-October of this year, which is 1,016,180 (or 18.8 percent) more than in the same time period of last year.

Of these, 3.042.907 visitors stayed in Georgia for longer than 24 hours, which is a 28 percent increase compared to 2016.

The countries from where the largest number of visitors came to Georgia in January-October of 2017 were:
• Azerbaijan – 10.8 percent increase
• Armenia – 15.8 percent increase
• Russia – 33.3 percent increase
• Turkey – 4.1 percent decrease
• Iran – 122.8 percent increase

From European Union countries:
• United Kingdom – 40 percent increase
• Austria – 36.8 percent increase
• The Netherlands – 34.6 percent increase
• France – 30.4 percent increase
• Germany – 29.1 percent increase

The countries with the most significant increase were:
• Saudi Arabia – 171.5 percent increase
• Kuwait – 150.3 percent increase
• Iran – 122.8 percent
• South Korea – 88.1 increase
• Uzbekistan – 75.4 percent increase
• India – 70 percent increase
• China – 56.9 percent increase

In October alone, Georgia was visited by 607,989 international travelers, which was a 15.2 percent increase compared to October of 2016.

"According to data from the second quarter of 2017, the income from international tourism amounted to $658.7 million USD for Georgia, which was $143 million more (or 27.8 percent increase) than the same period last year,” Chogovadze said.

As for the total income from international tourism in the first and second quarters of 2017, it amounted to $1.1 billion – 26 percent increase from the last year.

In the same period, tourism was 6.7 percent of Georgia’s GDP, which is a 5.9 percent increase from last year.

In January-September of 2017, financial operations carried out with foreign cards by international visitors was 1.653.855 GEL – a 38.7 percent increase from the last year.
(Agenda.ge)