1 099 474 international travelers visit Georgia in July 2019, number of Russian tourists decreased by 14%
By Levan Abramishvili
Tuesday, August 6
The head of the National Tourism Administration Mariam Kvrivishvili presented the statistics on international travels, provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“In July, international visitors saw a 4.5% increase, while tourist arrivals increased by 1%. We expected this month to be a record one, with the number of tourists increased by a two-digit number; however, due to external reasons, this didn’t come about. We tried our best to minimize the possible damages and were able to maintain a positive growth rate,” noted Kvrivishvili.
“In July, we saw that despite the current situation and propaganda, Russian tourists are eager to visit Georgia. The number of land-based travelers from Russia, including through the Kazbegi checkpoints, has increased. The citizens of Russia also continue to use transit routes,” she added.
According to the data, the number of tourist visits reached 570 482, which is 5 505 more compared to July 2018 (growth + 1%).
Despite the 6.4% decrease of Russian visitors, they remained as the top 2nd visitors. Most of the international travelers came from Azerbaijan (+13.1%), Russia (-6.4%), Turkey (+9.6%) and Armenia (+3.2%).
In contrast to Russian visitors, a positive trend has maintained from the EU countries. The growth of international visits to Georgia from the EU is as follows: Germany – +33.7%; France – +29.6%; Lithuania – +20%; Latvia – +17.4%; Poland +15.7%; etc.
In the reporting period, the following countries also saw a significant increase: Kuwait – +58.1%; China – +55.6%; Uzbekistan – +50.9%; Saudi Arabia – +42.1%; Korea – +38.9%; Kazakhstan – +28.5%; etc.
Last week, Kvrivishvili mentioned that the so-called ‘anti-crisis plan’ is underway, which aims at diversifying the incoming tourists by launching marketing campaigns in different countries to popularize Georgia.
On June 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that starting from July 8, direct flights, including commercial ones, between Russia and Georgia would be banned. The decision came after protests in Tbilisi, sparked by Russian legislator’s address from the Speaker’s seat in the Georgian Parliament during the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy session.
The official rationale behind the decision was that Russian tourists wouldn’t feel safe in Georgia due to the “increasing Russophobia.”
In response to the ban, on July 24, the Georgian Government announced subsidization of transit flights from Russian cities to Tbilisi and Batumi through Yerevan and back with up to 600,000 euros, with a maximum of 90 euros subsidy per passenger.