Q2 2016: Over 1 million domestic travellers spend 107m GEL

Domestic tourism is growing in Georgia, meaning local travellers are seeking out ways to explore the beauty of their home country.

The National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) released data today reflecting the number of internal tourists, their age and intention for nationwide travel.

Figures showed during the second quarter (Q2) of 2016, about 1.07 million locals ventured away from their homes and visited another region in Georgia. Collectively these travellers spent almost 107 million GEL (about $46.32 million/€41.27 million*) in this three month period (April to June 2016), said Geostat.

Where do domestic travellers go in Georgia?

Tbilisi was the most visited area, while the Imreti region in the country’s west was the second most popular place to visit.

Here are top five most visited areas:

• Tbilisi - 267,100 domestic travellers
• Imereti - 221,900 domestic travellers
• Adjara - 109,800 domestic travellers
• Shida Kartli - 95,300 domestic travellers
• Kakheti - 82,100 domestic travelers.

Why do Georgians travel around their home country?

Most people travelled to another region in Georgia to visit friends or relatives, while the next most common reason for internal travel was shopping.

In Q2 of 2016 domestic travellers in Georgia spent almost 30 million GEL on shopping. Photo by N. Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

The top reasons for internal travel included:

• Visiting friends/relatives - 559,000 travellers
• Shopping - 129,800 travellers
• Health and Medical Care - 124,300 travellers
• Holiday, Leisure, Recreation - 79,500 travellers
• Visiting another house (cottage, etc.) - 68,900 travellers
• Business or Professional - 51,900 travellers
• Religion/Pilgrimage - 25,900 travellers
• Education or trainings - 11,500 travellers
• Other - 25,900 travellers

How much do people spend while on holiday?

Georgians spent the largest proportion of money on shopping, said Geostat.

On average, the total amount spent in Q2, 2016 per category was:

• Shopping – 29.9 million GEL
• Foods and drinks – 26.1m GEL
• Transport – 18.8m GEL
• Accommodation – 2.8m GEL
• Holiday, leisure, recreation, cultural and sporting activities – 1m GEL
• Other expenditure – 28.4m GEL

People aged between 31 and 50 were the most avid domestic travellers, claimed Geostat while the least people willing to travel were the elderly.

Specifically:

• People aged 15-30 – 227,500 travellers
• People aged 31-50 – 328,700 travellers
• People aged 51-70 – 256,400 travellers
• People aged 71 and above – 57,900 travellers.

In terms of gender, between April and June more women (487,100) travelled around Georgia than men (383,500).

Are locals happy to travel internally?

The level of happiness a person gained while travelling around Georgia varied. The majority of people were satisfied but there were some who were "very dissatisfied”:

• Very Dissatisfied - 6,200 travellers
• Dissatisfied - 29,900 travellers
• Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied - 173,500 travellers
• Satisfied - 549,900 travellers
• Very satisfied - 312,800 travellers

Furthermore, 4,200 travellers did not know or was hard to answer whether they were satisfied of dissatisfied with traveling in Georgia, said Geostat.