October 2019: visitors to Georgian protected areas up 21 per cent
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The number of visitors to protected areas in Georgia were up 21 per cent in October 2019 compared to the same period last year, announces the Agency of Protected Areas of Georgia.
Overall in the first 10 months of 2019, 1,130,400 visitors visited the protected territories of Georgia which is an increase of seven per cent compared to last year.
Visitors based on nationality were distributed as follows:
- Georgian visitors – 49 per cent
- Foreign visitors – 51 per cent
The number of foreign visitors has increased 14 per cent compared to last year.
During the first 10 months of 2019, 63.5 per cent of visitors visited the following protected territories:
- The Kazbegi National Park
- Martvili Canyon
- Prometheus Cave
- Okatse Canyon
- Tbilisi National Park
The revenue from Georgian ecotourism in the first 10 months of 2019 reached 9.4 million GEL ($3.17 mln/€2.86 mln) which is an 11 per cent increase compared to last year.
The Caucasus Nature Fund will allocate €870,000 for the development of three national parks in Georgia: Borjom-Kharagauli, Mtirala and Pshav-Khevsureti.
The US government has announced the launch of a five-year, $1.6 million programme ‘National Parks and Ecotourism’ to protect Georgian national parks and make them economically sustainable and more attractive for tourists, announced the Minister of Environmental Development of Georgia today.
The European Union (EU) is launching three new projects for environmental protection and climate change in Georgia, announces the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia.
The Georgian forests are soon to be announced among the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage sites. This means that the sites that have huge local importance for Georgians, will receive even more special cultural or physical significance worldwide.
New protected areas will be created in the Racha region, western Georgia, says the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Georgia.
Visitor centres in Georgia’s protected areas will be closed for 10 days starting tomorrow, says the Agency of Protected Areas. The decision has been made to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.