Deputy Economy Minister says tourism industry’s “historic high” Q1 revenue due to “effective” Gov’t policy

Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili on Tuesday said the domestic tourism industry had recorded a “historic high” revenue of $807.7 million in the first quarter of this year, exceeding the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 by 39.6 percent and marking a 1.5 percent year-on-year increase.

Kvrivishvili attributed this success to the Government's “effective policy and action plan”. She said the result was “particularly impressive” given the pandemic situation of the past few years, and added the country had seen a “significant growth” in tourist spending from European Union and Gulf countries. 

We continue the policy of diversification, which has resulted in a positive impact on the sector's growth. We are conducting marketing campaigns to develop the tourism industry in Georgia in a sustainable and diversified manner, receive more income from tourism and host more international travellers in order to increase the awareness of the country as a tourist destination”, she said.

The Georgian National Tourism Administration said tourism revenue had increased from EU countries by 48 percent y/y, from Azerbaijan by 44.1 percent and Turkey by 22 percent.

The body added in figures of post-pandemic recovery, visitors from Israel (231.3 percent), Saudi Arabia (185.7 percent), EU (182 percent) and Turkey (147.1 percent) had marked the largest increases.