Georgia in 2017 was visited by more than 7.5 million international visitors, which is 18.8% more than in 2016, the head of the National Tourism Administration Georgy Chogovadze said at a press conference.
The number of tourists - international visitors who spent a day or more in Georgia, in 2017 amounted to more than 3 million 478 thousand people, which is 27.9% more than in 2016.
Most often in 2017, citizens of the following countries came to Georgia:
Armenia - growth of 14.8%;
Azerbaijan - growth of 11.2%;
Russia - an increase of 34.1%;
Turkey - in comparison with the data for 2016, the number of Turkish citizens who visited Georgia decreased by 0.8%;
Iran - an increase of 118.3%.
From the EU countries, British citizens (+ 39.9%), the Netherlands (+ 31.1%), Spain (+ 29.9%), France (+ 29.6%) and Germany (+ 25.7%) are leading the countries of the European Union to visit Georgia. .
A significant increase in visitors in 2017 was recorded from Jordan (+ 316.1%), Saudi Arabia (+ 164.6%), Kuwait (154.3%), India (+ 64.1%) and China (+54 %).
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, only in December 2017 more than 600 thousand international visitors visited Georgia, which is 23.3% more compared to the same period in 2016. In the same period, the number of tourists increased by 31.7% and amounted to 234.9 thousand people.
According to general data of I-III quarters of 2017, the income from foreign tourism in Georgia amounted to 2.2 billion dollars (29% growth), which is $ 489 million more compared to the same period in 2016. The share of tourism in GDP was 7%, which is 11.5% more than in the same period last year.
In 2017, with the aim of increasing the recognition of Georgia in the international arena, the country took part in 21 international tourism exhibitions, conducted online marketing campaigns in 19 target countries. In addition, the advertising campaigns were conducted through the leading channels of the world: BBC, Euronews, Discovery, Tripadvisor, Expedia. In Georgia, about one hundred international press tours were held, during which more than 680 foreign journalists visited the country. In 2017, 14 infotours were also held, within which 239 tour operators from all over the world visited Georgia.
Articles on Georgia were prepared by the BBC, National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler India, Forbes, Le Monde, The Independent, The Guardian, Elle, Observer, Birdwatching Magazine UK; Thrilist, Conde Nast; Daily Mail, Vogue; Huffington Post and so on.
