The News in Brief
Friday, February 15
Marneuli Mayor to resign
Marneuli Mayor Temur Abazov filed his resignation to the Marneuli City Council.
He has been charged with the inhumane and degrading treatment of a local resident.
Abazov noted that he could not hold this position with “such charges” leveled against him, although he continues to claim he is innocent.
“It was a well-organized provocation and there is no evidence and facts about my involvement,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that Temur Abazov was arrested on charges of inhumane and degrading treatment of a local resident on June 13. Later the court sentenced him to a period pretrial detention. Last December, he was released after paying a GEL 10,000 bail.
Since then his deputy, Zaur Tabatadze has been appointed as Acting Mayor. The Marneuli City Council is expected to vote on relieving Abazov on his duties in the coming days.
Number of international non-resident travelers in Georgia increased by 9.8% y/y in 2018
The National Statistics Office (Geostat) reported that the number of arrivals of international non-resident travelers in Georgia amounted to 8.7 million in 2018, 9.8 percent higher compared to the previous year.
66.7 percent of international visitors were tourists.
The share of excursionists amounted to 27.4 percent, while 5.9 percent of visitors were both tourists and travelers.
72.9 percent of visits were a repeated visit.
It is noteworthy that the most significant increase of tourists was observed from Uzbekistan (+217.1%) Israel (+132.1%) Kyrgyzstan (+112%) China (+72.8%)and Saudi Arabia (+72.7%).
In addition, a positive trend was maintained from the European Union countries: Poland (+130.5%), the Czech Republic (+96%), Spain (+65.1%), Latvia (+63.5%) Germany (+46.6%), etc.
(By Mariam Chanishvili)
Marneuli Mayor Temur Abazov filed his resignation to the Marneuli City Council.
He has been charged with the inhumane and degrading treatment of a local resident.
Abazov noted that he could not hold this position with “such charges” leveled against him, although he continues to claim he is innocent.
“It was a well-organized provocation and there is no evidence and facts about my involvement,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that Temur Abazov was arrested on charges of inhumane and degrading treatment of a local resident on June 13. Later the court sentenced him to a period pretrial detention. Last December, he was released after paying a GEL 10,000 bail.
Since then his deputy, Zaur Tabatadze has been appointed as Acting Mayor. The Marneuli City Council is expected to vote on relieving Abazov on his duties in the coming days.
Number of international non-resident travelers in Georgia increased by 9.8% y/y in 2018
The National Statistics Office (Geostat) reported that the number of arrivals of international non-resident travelers in Georgia amounted to 8.7 million in 2018, 9.8 percent higher compared to the previous year.
66.7 percent of international visitors were tourists.
The share of excursionists amounted to 27.4 percent, while 5.9 percent of visitors were both tourists and travelers.
72.9 percent of visits were a repeated visit.
It is noteworthy that the most significant increase of tourists was observed from Uzbekistan (+217.1%) Israel (+132.1%) Kyrgyzstan (+112%) China (+72.8%)and Saudi Arabia (+72.7%).
In addition, a positive trend was maintained from the European Union countries: Poland (+130.5%), the Czech Republic (+96%), Spain (+65.1%), Latvia (+63.5%) Germany (+46.6%), etc.
(By Mariam Chanishvili)