Jan-May 2018: Georgia hosts 23.5% more tourists

The number of international travellers visiting Georgia is increasing year-on-year, show the latest data from the Georgian National Tourism Administration.

In January-May 2018 Georgia hosted 2,834,576 international travellers (13.6 percent growth), 2,390,656 international visitors (16.9 percent growth) and 1,533,785 tourists (23.5 percent growth).

The countries from where the largest number of visitors came to Georgia in January-May 2018 were:

• Azerbaijan – 10.7 percent increase
• Turkey – 21.7 percent increase
• Armenia – 6.3 percent decrease
• Russia – 28 percent increase

From European Union countries:

• United Kingdom – 59 percent increase
• Latvia – 48.7 percent increase
• Germany – 37.3 percent increase
• France – 34.4 percent increase
• Poland – 27.9 percent increase

The countries with the most significant increase were:

• Korea – 154.5 percent increase
• China – 62 percent increase
• Kuwait - 83.4 percent increase
• Iran – 60.5 percent increase
• Israel – 44.7percent increase

In May 2018 alone Georgia hosted 633,086 international travellers (7.8 percent increase), 541,752 international visitors (9 percent increase and 359,744 tourists (16.1 percent increase).

How did Georgia benefit from more visitors?

A total of $799 million was generated from international tourism in Georgia in January-April 2018, which was $177 million more compared to the same period of 2017.

Last year international tourism revenue reached $2.5 billion, which was 585 million more compared to 2016.

In 2017 the share of tourism in the gross domestic product was 6.4 percent - a 13 percent year-on-year increase.