Almost a million guests visited Georgia’s protected areas in 2017

A total of 954,397 guests visited Georgia’s protected in 2017, a 30 percent hike in comparison to 2016, announces Georgia’s Agency of Protected Areas.

Half of the visitors were Georgians. The statistics show that 57 percent of visitors were Georgians and 43 percent were foreigners.

The number of Georgian visitors increased by 28 percent year-on-year, while the number of foreigner visitors increased by 33 percent.

In 2017 Georgia’s top 10 most visited protected areas were:

1. Prometheus Caves – 163,265
2. Kazbegi National Park – 153,225
3. Martvili Canyon – 147,308
4. Sataplia – 85,256
5. Okatse Canyon – 73,011
6. Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park – 59,285
7. Lagodekhi Protected Areas – 55,119
8. Tbilisi National Park – 50,615
9. Mtirala National Park – 47,387
10. Kolkheti National Park – 29,465

The highest number of visitors who came to Georgia’s protected areas in 2017 were from:

• Russia – 119,508
• Israel – 55,999
• Poland – 31,312
• Ukraine – 26,350
• Germany – 18,325

In total guests from 97 countries visited Georgia’s protected areas in 2017.

The financial contribution of five protected areas in Georgia’s economy is 86,542,878 GEL, says thee Agency of Protected Areas.

The research included Georgia’s Kazbegi, Lagodekhi, Martvili, Mtirala and Promete protected areas.