Almost 150 thousand tourists visit Georgia in June, highest during pandemic
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Friday, July 9
According to the official data, Georgia was visited by 146,664 tourists in June 2021. Compared to the same period of the last year, it is a 286.8% increase. However, it is 80% less compared to 2019. The number of tourists who visited Georgia in June 2021 is unprecedentedly high compared to any other month during a pandemic.
91% of foreign visits in June were tourist - which means that visitors spent at least one night traveling to Georgia. It should also be noted that more than half of the total visits, 52.5% were made by air, which indicates the activation of air traffic in Georgia.
In June of this year, the largest number of visitors came from Turkey, Israel, and Ukraine. Tourists from these countries made up 41.5% of the total visits.
As for the data of the first six months of the current year, statistics show that in January-June 2021, a total of 464,126 foreign visits were made to Georgia, which is 62.2% less than the data of the same period last year.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic had a devastating impact on the Georgian tourism industry.
As the virus spread globally, the majority of the countries, including Georgia, imposed restrictions on movement and closed borders to limit the spread of the virus. In 2020, the number of foreign visits in Georgia decreased by 80 percent.
Last year, 1,5 million people visited Georgia. Inflow from tourism also declined, the National Bank of Georgia estimated that the sector earned $2.7 billion less than it would be able to earn due to pandemics. Last year, the tourism sector made $541,7 million in Georgia. As for 2021, in January-May, Georgia has already earned $176.5 million from foreign tourism.
According to official data, most people visited Georgia from Turkey in June. The number of Turkish tourists in Georgia was as much as 29,6 thousand, which is an 87 percent increase compared to the same period of last year. From Israel, Georgia was visited by 15,8 thousand tourists, which is over a 34,000% increase.
Earlier this week, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Natia Turnava, presented the 10-year development plan of Georgia, which shows that Tourism remains one of the biggest industries in the country. According to her, Georgia should receive as much as 13-14 million visitors by 2030, who will spend over $6.5 billion in the country.
