Income from international tourism to exceed over $2b in 2017

Georgia expects the total income from international tourism to exceed over $2 billion this year. So far, Georgia has already received $1.1 billion in income from the international tourism.

In the first and second quarters of 2017 total income from international tourism amounted to $1.1 billion – 26 percent increase from the last year, announced the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA).

In the same period, tourism was 6.7 percent of Georgia’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is a 8.8 percent increase from last year.

In January-October of 2017, financial operations carried out with foreign cards by international visitors was 1,799,989 GEL – a 33.2 percent increase from last year.

The tourism sector is one of the biggest sectors for our economy. This year we are expecting more than $2.7 billion from tourism. In addition, 180,000 people are employed in the tourism sector,” said Georgia’s Ministry of Economy Dimitry Kumsishvili.

The minister stated that on average 50 million GEL is being spent on tourism development annually in Georgia.

He promised the state will continue to support tourism development.

Georgia hosted 6,954,932 international travellers (+18.4 percent) and 3,243,963 tourists* (+27.6 percent) between January-November of 2017, said the GNTA.