Georgian residents made 2.8mln trips abroad in 2023 with Turkey, Armenia top destinations - Statistics Office

Georgian resident travellers made 2.8 million trips outside the country in 2023, with most of the visits made to Turkey with one million and Armenia with 349,000, the National Statistics Office said on Friday.

The next most in-demand destinations were EU member countries (with 14.5 percent), Russia (12.5 percent), Azerbaijan (1.9 percent) and other states (12.7 percent).

The Office said the number of travels made by Georgian residents had increased by 31.6 percent year-on-year, while most of the trips (46.5 percent) were made by travellers of the 31-50 age group.

The travellers spent ₾2 billion ($753mln) while on trips abroad last year - an 11.5 percent increase y/y. The average expenditure of the visit decreased by 15.9 percent and amounted to ₾906.7 ($341.54).

Georgian residents spent the highest amount of money on shopping ($853.3mln), which was also the main reason cited for outbound visits. The Office said the purpose comprised 35.4 percent of outbound visits, followed by visits to friends or relatives (32.3 percent), business trips (14.1 percent), holiday (12.5 percent), and medical care (2.9 percent).

Other most cited reasons for visiting other countries included:

Image: Geostat

Last year, the average number of nights spent during outbound visits was 6.5, which was 7.1 percent higher than the figure indicated in 2022 (6.1).

The Office also said 97.2 percent of outbound travels had been repeat visits.