Why do tourists visit Georgia and how much do they spend?
Inbound tourism statistics for Q2 2018 released

Holiday, leisure and recreation are the most common reasons for international travellers to travel to Georgia, while the next main purpose of the visit is visiting friends and relatives, show the latest data published by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).

More specifically, the top reasons for visiting Georgia included:

• Holiday, Leisure, Recreation – 738,400 travellers (44%)
• Visiting friends/relatives – 345,200 travellers (20.6%)
• Transit to other country – 286,100 travellers (17%)
• Business or professional – 122,500 travellers (7.3%)
• Shopping - 105,400 travellers (6.3%)
• Health and medical care – 48,600 travellers (2.9%)
• Other – 32,200 travellers (1.9%)

In total 1.3 million international visitors ventured away from their home countries and visited Georgia in the second quarter (Q2) of 2018, which is a 15.7 percent year-on-year (y/y) increase.

Distribution of visits by visitors' country of citizenship. Screenshot from Geostat.

International non-resident travellers travelled 2 million times to Georgia in Q2 of 2018, of which 1.7 million were visits made by international visitors, says Geostat.

Distribution of inbound visitors by the type of visitor (numbers in thousand). Screenshot from Geostat.

Where do inbound visitors travel to in Georgia?

Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi was the most visited area, while the Imereti region in the country’s west is the least popular destination in the country.

Here are the top five most visited areas:

1. Tbilisi – 35%
2. Adjara – 18%
3. Mtskheta-Mtianeti – 15%
4. Kvemo Kartli – 12%
5. Kakheti – 7%

People aged 31-50 were the most avid inbound travellers (891,000 people), while the least people willing to travel were the elderly (34,300 people).

In terms of gender, more men (827,100) travelled in Georgia than women (518,400) in Q2 of 2018.

These travellers spent 1.9 billion GEL in total while travelling in Georgia. This is a 31.5 percent increase compared to the same quarter of 2017. As for the average expenditure per visit, it totalled 1,144 GEL (15.5% y/y increase).

How much do people spend while in Georgia?

Inbound visitors spent the largest proportion of money on accommodation, said Geostat.

On average, the total amount spent in Q2 of 2018 per category was:

• Accommodation – 424m GEL
• Holiday, leisure, recreation, cultural and sporting activities – 354m GEL
• Food and drink – 518m GEL
• Shopping – 297.8 million GEL
• Local transport – 129.7m GEL
• Consumer durable goods – 149.6m GEL
• Valuable goods – 6m GEL
• Other expenditures – 41.3m GEL