A record number of international tourists visit Georgia

A record number of international tourists visited Georgia last year.

Latest information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia revealed 5.3 million international visitors spent time in Georgia in 2013. This was an increase of 21.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2012.

According to the information, 39 per cent (2.08 million) were tourists, 22 per cent (1.1 million) were transit visitors and 39 per cent (2.1 million) were other kind of visitors.

In December 2013, just over 391,000 visitors arrived in Georgia a 5 per cent increase on the same time in 2012.

The Ministry reported the biggest share of non-resident visitors came from Turkey, followed by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine and Iran.  

About 25 % fewer visitors came from Turkey and 15% fewer came from Iran, compared to the previous year. However more visitors came from Azerbaijan (16.3%), Armenia (26.8%), Russia (40.6%) and Ukraine (69.7%).

Statistics showed increasing numbers of tourists from EU countries visited Georgia last year, led by Poland, which had 80% more visitors than 2012. Visitors from the Czech Republic were up 32%, and more visitors were also recorded from Austria (22%), France (19%), Germany (17%) and Italy (15%).  

As for Central Asian countries, the most tourists came from Kazakhstan, with an increase of 60% compared to the previous year. More visitors also came from Israel (29%), the Middle East (29 %) and Eastern European country Belarus, with 62 %.