More foreigners visit Georgia

During the first 8 months of 2011 Georgia was visited approximately by 1.8 mln foreigners, this is around 40% more than last year in the same period. Visitors come mainly in August. Today the biggest number of visitors to Georgia come from Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. During the first months of this year, Azerbaijan is the number one source of foreign visitors with 456,000 Azerbaijanis entering Georgia. This year already more than 44,000 Russian citizens visited Georgia. Russian citizens living in the North Caucasus region come to Georgia actively enjoying the easy visa regime for them. In fact from October 2010, Russian citizens of North Caucasus origin can enjoy a 90 day visa free regime in Georgia. The rest of Russian citizens can easily obtain Georgian visas in the country’s airports or other check points. The number of visitors to Georgia from the EU states has increased. In 2006, Georgia was visited by around 80,000 visitors from the EU, in 2010 – 110,000, during the first 8 months of this year alone already 91,000 visitors came into Georgia. This year has also seen an increased number of Iranian citizens coming to Georgia.