Income from international tourism to exceed over $2b in 2017
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Georgia expects the total income from international tourism to exceed over $2 billion this year. So far, Georgia has already received $1.1 billion in income from the international tourism.
In the first and second quarters of 2017 total income from international tourism amounted to $1.1 billion – 26 percent increase from the last year, announced the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA).
In the same period, tourism was 6.7 percent of Georgia’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is a 8.8 percent increase from last year.
In January-October of 2017, financial operations carried out with foreign cards by international visitors was 1,799,989 GEL – a 33.2 percent increase from last year.
The tourism sector is one of the biggest sectors for our economy. This year we are expecting more than $2.7 billion from tourism. In addition, 180,000 people are employed in the tourism sector,” said Georgia’s Ministry of Economy Dimitry Kumsishvili.
The minister stated that on average 50 million GEL is being spent on tourism development annually in Georgia.
He promised the state will continue to support tourism development.
Georgia hosted 6,954,932 international travellers (+18.4 percent) and 3,243,963 tourists* (+27.6 percent) between January-November of 2017, said the GNTA.
Georgia’s tourism potential was promoted at IBTM World - the leading global event for meetings, incentives, conferences, events and the business travel industry, taking place in Barcelona, Spain.
Almost seven million international travellers visited Georgia between January-November of which over three million were tourists, says the Georgian National Tourism Administration.
NaelTour, one of the leading tourism agencies in South Korea, will sell travel tour packages for Georgia, announced Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Georgia's ongoing national tourism campaign held across countries in Europe, Middle East and beyond has been confirmed as successful by marketing professionals from Google and experts from the country.
Experts from the United States (US) have arrived in Georgia to explore the country’s extreme sport tourism potential. In particular, the experts will study caves and canyons in the western part of the country.