October 2019: international visits from Iran down 34.5 per cent

In October 2019, visits of international travellers traveling to Georgia reached 782,670 which is an increase of 8.8 per cent compared to the same period of last year. Photo: Georgian National Tourism Administration.

Agenda.ge, 12 Nov 2019 - 12:45, Tbilisi,Georgia

International visits from Iran to Georgia in October 2019 decreased by 34.5 per cent compared to last year, announced the Georgian National Tourism Administration earlier today.

In October 2019, visits of international travellers travelling to Georgia reached 782,670 which is an increase of 8.8 per cent compared to the same period of last year.

Out of the total number of visits by international travellers, 665,055 visits (8.8 per cent increase) were carried out by international visitors, defined as visits of people who are over the age of 15 and travel for less than one year.

Out of these visitors, tourists (who stayed in Georgia for at least one night) accounted for 438,805 (a 7.8 per cent increase) while 22,319 (10.9 per cent increase) were one-day visitors who did not stay in Georgia for a night. 

The top countries from were international visits were carried out to Georgia in October were the following:

  • Armenia – 120, 978 visits (12.7 per cent increase)
  • Azerbaijan – 119,540 visits (7.7 per cent increase)
  • Russia – 118,252 visits (15.2 per cent decrease)
  • Turkey – 86.726 visits (16.9 per cent decrease)

 A decrease in October was also noted in visits from Belarus (5.2 per cent).

Compared to October 2018, there was a significant increase of international visits from EU countries:

  • Estonia – 79.1 per cent
  • France – 51.4 per cent
  • Germany - 43.6 per cent
  • Poland – 43 per cent
  • UK – 31 per cent

Also, a significant increase of international visits was noted from the following countries:

  • Kazakhstan – 139.4 per cent
  • Kyrgyzstan – 66.7 per cent
  • China – 58.9 per cent
  • Israel – 56.9 per cent
  • Saudi Arabia – 44.9 per cent

In the first 10 months of 2019, visits of international travellers exceeded eight million for the first time and reached 8,020,230 which is an increase of 6.8 per cent compared to last year.

In the first 10 months of this year, Georgia hosted 6,647,866 international visits from where 67 per cent were tourist type visits.

Top countries from where most visits were carried out in the first 10 months of 2019:

  • Russia – 1,324,226 (6 per cent increase)
  • Azerbaijan – 1,289,371 (6.9 per cent increase)
  • Armenia – 1,114,122 (4.8 per cent increase)
  • Turkey – 994,076 (2.9 per cent increase)

In the first 10 months of 2019, the number of international visits from Iran decreased by 53.5 per cent which is the only decrease in the number of visits from top 15 countries in this period.

In January-October 2019, the revenue from international travellers travelling to Georgia reached $2.8 billion which is 0.9 per cent more compared to the same period of last year.