About Georgia’s protected territories

The Georgian administration has declared tourism the priority for the development of Georgia’s economy, highlighting that the country possesses all the potential to develop tourism in different directions. One of the country’s tourist assets is the existence of protected territories. In Georgia there are 14 preserved territories, 8 national parks, 12 protected territories, 14 natural monuments and 2 preserved landscapes.

The first protected territory in Georgia was declared such in 1912. Today there are 386,684 hectares of protected territory in Georgia, around 7% of its entire area. Around 75% of this is forest.

To develop tourism in the preserved and protected territories of Georgia the State has started developing infrastructure, creating tourist camps and promoting them through video clips shown to a wide audience. The protected territory agencies say this has yielded some positive results.

In 2009 more than 100,000 people visited Georgia’s preserved and protected territories, whereas in 2008 the number was 53,000.