In the first eight months of 2017, more than 5 million foreigners visited Georgia. This is a 18.9% increase in visitors compared to the same period of 2016.
Georgia’s neighboring countries top the list where the most visitors are coming from. During this period the largest number of visitors entered Georgia from Azerbaijan (+ 10.4% y/y), Armenia (+ 16% y/y) and Russia (+ 34% y/y).
The most active month for tourism was August, with 1.08 million visitors in Georgia. This is the first time when more than one million visitors entered the country in the period of one month.
Top 10 countries from which visitors came to Georgia in the first eight months of 2017:
- Azerbaijan - 1.14 million visitors
- Armenia - 1.1 million visitors
- Russia - 995,000 visitors
- Turkey - 813,000 visitors
- Iran - 220,000 visitors
- Ukraine - 135,000 visitors
- Israel - 84,000 visitors
- Saudi Arabia - 46,000 visitors
- Kazakhstan - 42,000 visitors
- Poland - 37,000 visitors
Tourism Statistics
Out of the 5 million people who entered Georgia in this period, 2.5 million remained in the country for more than 24 hours. The number of those remaining in the country more than 24 has grown by 29% y/y. According to international classifications, a visitor is considered to be a tourist if he/she stays for more than 24 hours in the country and uses various services (restaurants, hotels, etc).
Revenues from Tourism Sector
In the first half of 2017, tourism revenues reached $1.1 billion, which is 26% higher than the corresponding period of the previous year, according to the report of the National Bank of Georgia.
According to the data of 2016, total revenues from the tourism sector in Georgia amounted to $2.2 billion (growth + 11.9% y/y), which is $230 million more than the previous year. Based on the indicator, tourism accounts for 7.1% of the country's total economy.
Hotel Statistics
According to a report by the National Tourism Administration, there were 1.7 thousand hotels registered in Georgia in 2016 and there were 57 thousand beds in total in those hotels. Tbilisi leads with 14,837 available bed places, followed by the Adjara region with 11,615 beds places.
Tourism’s Contribution to the Georgian Economy
Despite the growth in tourism in 2017 in comparison to recent years, tourism has yet to regain the levels experienced in 2007-2013. The highest growth indicator in tourism was in 2012, which was 56% y/y.
In 2013, the growth indicator was 21%, and in 2014, 2.3%, due to the introduction of stricter visa regulations. The growth indicator slightly recovered in 2015, reaching 7%. Finally, growth in 2016 indicated 7.6%.