Georgia hosts record number of tourists in July 2016

A record number of tourists visited Georgia in the first seven months of 2016, says head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration Giorgi Chogovadze.

Between January and July Georgia hosted 3,400,335 international visitors (tourists, transit, other), which was a 10.6 percent increase year-on-year (y/y).

This was slightly less than the amount of tourists who visited Georgia in the whole of 2015.

Of the 3,400,335 international visitors so far this year, 1,401,914 were tourists. This was an increase of 17.5 percent y/y.

Meanwhile in July 2016 alone, Georgia hosted 764,022 international visitors, which was 3.5 percent more y/y.

The number of tourists who spent more than 24 hours in Georgia last month was 390,234 or 15.8 percent more y/y.

Last month the most international visitors came from:

• Iran – 575 percent increase;
• Syria – 453 percent increase;
• India – 368 percent increase;
• Egypt – 263 percent increase;
• Saudi Arabia – 112 percent increase;
• Germany – 18 percent increase;
• Lithuania – 17 percent increase;
• Greece – 14 percent increase;
• United Kingdom – 12 percent increase.

In the first quarter (Q1) of 2016 money generated from international tourism exceeded $354.5 billion USD, which was 15.7 percent or $48 million GEL more y/y, said Chogovadze.