Georgia welcomes 430,000 visitors in November 2015

Georgia’s reputation and a popular new tourist destination is gaining traction – more people are visiting the post-Soviet nation and spending a longer time exploring the historic country.

Latest figures from Georgian National Tourism Administration revealed 436,234 visitors came to Georgia last month – an 8.4 percent increase on the same time in 2014.

The Administration said people were spending longer periods of time in the country too. The number of visitors who spent more than 24 hours in Georgia increased by 3.6 percent year-on-year (y/y), said officials.

Last month most visitors came from Turkey (2.2 percent increase y/y) followed by Azerbaijan (22 percent decrease y/y), then Ukraine and Armenia.

How many visitors came to Georgia between January-November?

Between January and November 2015 Georgia welcomed 5,431,723 visitors. This was 6.9 percent higher than last year’s corresponding data.

During the first 11 months of this year a positive trend was also retained regarding visitors from European Union (EU) countries.

Between January and November 2015 the most visitors came from: 

• Lithuania (17 percent increase); 
• Italy (14 percent increase);
• Germany (11 percent increase) and;
• Latvia (11 percent increase).

Georgia also enjoyed increased tourist numbers from other countries such as:

• United Arab Emirates (748 percent increase);
• Saudi Arabia (79 percent increase);
• and United States (10 percent increase).

Tourism generates millions for Georgia

In the first six months of this year Georgia received $766.4 million USD from the international tourism, which was 2.9 percent more y/y.

In Q2 alone, Georgian National Tourism Administration reported the country earned $460 million USD from international tourism, which was 7.1 percent more (or 30.4 million GEL) than Q2 2014.

Winter season ahead

Before the end of 2015, tourists are still likely to visit Georgia and enjoy the start of the winter season.

Georgian National Tourism Administration announced the country’s various winter resorts were ready and waiting to accept local and international tourists.

"We launched marketing campaigns promoting our country’s winter resorts so we hope to end the year 2015 on a positive note,” said the Administration.