Tourism Administration: 64.1% of pre-pandemic visits restored

Georgia has received $258 million from international tourist visits in May 2022, which is 250.4 percent more compared to the same month of last year, the Georgian National Tourism Administration said on Friday.

Passenger flow in western Georgia's Kutaisi International Airport recovered in May by 111 percent compared to the pre-pandemic figure in 2019, while the number of flights was restored by 115 percent, the United Airports of Georgia said on Monday.

Georgia hosted 359,238 international travellers in May, posting a 49.7 percent recovery from the pre-pandemic 2019 figure and an increase of 228.5 percent year-on-year, the Georgian National Tourism Administration announced on Monday. 

A total of 261,400 Georgian resident travellers took a trip outside of the country in the first quarter of 2022 with most of these trips being made to Turkey (102,800) and Russia (26,300), show the latest data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia.

Western Georgia's Kutaisi International Airport served 76,052 passengers and received 298 flights in June, marking a 21 percent increase in flights from the pre-pandemic period, the United Airports of Georgia said on Thursday.

Georgia’s three international airports served 1,716,718 passengers between January-June, marking a 189 percent increase in comparison to the same period of the pandemic-hit 2020, the Georgian Civil Aviation Agency has said.

German budget airline Eurowings has expanded its Georgian operation by launching new Stuttgart-Tbilisi flights to Tbilisi International Airport, the United Airports of Georgia announced on Wednesday. 

Medea Janiashvili, the Acting Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration, on Thursday responded to a study by Transparency International Georgia, which had noted “significant acceleration” in the rate of visitors to Georgia from Russia in 2022, by saying the number of Russian citizens among visitors had dropped by 52 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

The number of arrivals of international non-resident travellers in Georgia equalled 1.04 million in the second quarter of this year, marking a 198.7 increase compared to the same period of 2021, the latest data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia shows.

Georgia’s revenues from tourism reached $476 million in July, a 20 percent increase from the same month of the pre-pandemic 2019 and a roughly 130 percent increase from July 2021, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said at today's Government meeting. 

Journalists from France, Türkiye, India, Korea and Egypt are visiting Georgia to explore the country's tourism potential as part of a press-tour organised by the Georgian National Tourism Administration, the national body announced on Wednesday.

Air Moldova has made its inaugural flight to Georgia, carrying 140 passengers from Chișinău to Tbilisi, TAV Georgia, the operator of Tbilisi and Batumi international airports, said on Monday.

Georgia’s tourism potential is promoted by officials and companies from the country at the ongoing Fitur 2023 international tourism trade fair in Spain, an event bringing together thousands of companies from over 130 countries.

Maia Omiadze, the head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration, on Tuesday said revenues from international tourism had amounted to a “record-high” $1.8 billion between January and June of this year, claiming numbers for the third quarter would be “even more impressive”. 

The Georgian National Tourism Administration on Saturday announced a partnership with Skyscanner, one of the world's largest travel platforms, to attract more tourists from Germany, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates.