2019: unprecedented year in tourism industry in terms of visits by international travelers

The number of visits by international travelers to Georgia hit a historic high and reached 9,357,964 in 2019, which is an increase of 7.8 per cent in comparison to last year, says the Georgian National Tourism Administration.

Head of the Georgian Tourism Administration Mariam Kvrivishvili summed up last year earlier today and said that it was full of challenges but that with hard work the administration implemented an anti-crisis plan in coordination with the private sector in response to the Russian flight bans.

• Russia’s flight ban to and from Georgia starts today

Georgian National Tourism Administration worked to increase the awareness of Georgia in the target tourism markets, to improve the service of tourism and to attract investments”, said Kvrivishvili.

International visits increased especially from countries where Georgian National Tourism Administration held marketing campaigns, like Germany (38.1 per cent), Poland (32 per cent), French (28.4 per cent), the UK (27.5 per cent), and the Netherlands (25.8 per cent).

This year we are going to continue marketing campaigns to increase the awareness of Georgia ad increase the earnings from tourism, increase employment… We aim to diversify tourism markets, increase the number of tourism markets, create new tourism services, and also help businesses involved in the tourism sector,” said Kvrivishvili.

Out of the 9.3 million visits, 7.7 million were made by international visitors, making for a 7.3 per cent increase compared to last year. Out of these visits, 5 million visits were made by tourists (including an overnight stay in Georgia), which is a 6.8 per cent increase compared to 2018.