Hotel boom brings 5,340 new rooms in Georgia

Thousands of extra beds ranging from five-star hotels to more intimate experiences at local guesthouses are coming to Georgia, giving tourists more choice about where they stay.

The boom comes from a successful year last year, where 271 new hotels were built in Georgia.

As of 2016, there were 1,496 hotels (1,225 hotels in 2015) and 28,437 beds (23,097 beds in 2015) available for tourists in the country, show the official statistics from the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).

Last year 5,340 rooms were added to Georgia’s hospitality sector. Of this:

• 2,850 were suites
• 3,665 were single rooms
• 16,434 percent were double rooms
• 54,88 were triple rooms or larger

How many tourists stayed in Georgia last year?

Last year hotels and other accommodation facilities in Georgia welcomed 2,539,800 guests (1,854,507 – in 2015), of which non-residents were 1,670,200, said Geostat.

Why do travellers stay at hotels in Georgia?

The most common reason why people stayed at a hotel in Georgia was for recreation and holiday, business or professional, medical treatment or other.

Where Georgia’s visitors coming from and what are the reasons for their visit? Figures from 2016 showed:

From Georgia: 869,631 local visitors stayed in hotels last year.

Of this:

• 503,443 visitors stayed for recreation or rest
• 240,194 visitors stayed for a business trip
• 14,750 visitors stayed for medical or health treatment
• 111,244 – other

From EU countries: 225,858 people from the European Union (EU) spent time in hotels in Georgia.

Of this:

• 148,017 visitors stayed for recreation or rest
• 59,226 visitors stayed for a business trip
• 583 visitors stayed for medical or health treatment
• 18,032 - other

From CIS countries: 548,992 people from countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) stayed in hotels in Georgia last year.

Of this:

• 384,542 visitors stayed for recreation or rest
• 96,231 visitors stayed for a business trip
• 23,800 visitors stayed for medical or health treatment
• 44,419 - other

Other countries: Last year 895,308 people came from other countries.

Of this:

• 713,962 visitors stayed for recreation or rest
• 112,319 visitors stayed for business trip
• 1,964 visitors stayed for medical or health treatment
• 67,063 - other

How many people were employed in Georgia’s hotels?

In total 15,628 people were employed in Georgia’s hotels last year (13,236 in 2015), of which 9,336 were women (7,865 in 2015).