Georgia earns $766m from international tourism

Hundreds of millions of dollars has been injected into the Georgian economy through international tourism.

As the number of tourists to Georgia increased, the country experienced more benefits, said the National Tourism Administration.

Today the Administration published data stating international tourism revenue reached $460 million USD in the second quarter (Q2) of 2015, which was $30.4 million or seven percent more than in the same period of 2014.

In the first six months of the year Georgia earned $766.4 million USD directly from international tourism. This was almost three percent more year-on-year (y/y).

In the six-month period the value added to the tourism sector increased by 17.3 percent and reached 480 million GEL.

Between January and June 2015, tourists spent more than 300 million GEL on their foreign bank cards, which was an annual increase of more than 100 million GEL or 38 percent.

Meanwhile data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated 568,663 visitors came to Georgia in September 2015. That was 12 percent more compared to August 2015.

The type of visitors to Georgia last month were:

• 227,130 tourists (40 percent of the total number of monthly visitors) – a 16 percent increase year-on-year (y/y).
• 143,258 transit visitors (25 percent of the total number of monthly visitors) – a 10 percent increase y/y.
• 198,275 ‘other’ visitors (35 percent of the total number of monthly visitors) – a 11 percent increase y/y.

In the first nine months of the year Georgia welcomed almost 4.5 million visitors.

Specifically, the Ministry said 4,491,039 visitors had crossed the Georgian border between January 1 and September 30, which was 6.7 percent more than last year’s corresponding figures.