Number of foreign visitors to protected areas of Georgia up by 17%
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, September 16
The data for the first 8 months of 2019 provided by the ministry reads that the number of visitors at the protected areas increased by 8% compared to the same period of the previous year and amounted to 889 321 people.
In addition to this, the number of foreign visitors increased by 17% and the income from ecotourism services during the 8 months of 2019 amounted to GEL 7 836 484, which is a 27% increase compared to the same period of the previous year.
The ministry also noted that around GEL 20 million has been spent on the development of the protected areas in recent years.
In the first 8 months of this year, the most visitors visited protected areas in Georgia were: Martvili Canyon, Kazbegi National Park, Prometheus Cave, Okatse Canyon, and Tbilisi National Park.
If we have a look at the statistics of the first half of 2019, 411.905 visitors visited Georgia’s protected areas, which is up 10% on the same period of 2018.
“The Agency for Protected Areas is actively pursuing the development of ecotourism in the country. This year, the Okatse Waterfall Nature Monument was opened to visitors, where ecotourism infrastructure was arranged and a visitor center was built. The nature monument has been hosting visitors since May and 16,000 people have visited it in four months,” the statement of the Agency of the Protected Areas reads.
In addition to this, in January-June 2019, Georgia hosted 3,862,444 international travelers, which is 8.4% more compared to the same period of 2018 while in January-July, Georgia hosted 2,697,624 tourists (+8%) and 4,961,918 international travelers (+7.8%).
Despite the Russian sanctions on direct flights with Georgia, activated in July, 1,099,474 international travelers visited Georgia in July 2019. The increase compared with the same period of last year was + 5.8 %.