Number of visitors from Russia increased by 37.5% in Q2 2019
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, August 15
The statistics read that 378 200 people from Russia visited Georgia in April, May, and June of 2019. This is 23% of the total number of visits to Georgia. Russia imposed an embargo on direct flights with Georgia in late June, which took effect on July 8; therefore, the decline in Russian visitors after that is not reflected in the statistics.
Also, the statistics read in the II quarter of 2019, the number of arrivals of international non-resident travelers in the territory of Georgia equaled 2.2 million, which is 13.4 percent higher compared to the previous year.
Most of the incomes, 45 percent, were made by travelers of 31-50 age groups. The number of visits by international visitors from the mentioned category was 1.9 million, which is 13 percent higher compared to 2018. Out of the total visitors, 24.6% were 15-30 years old, followed by 51-70 year category, which amounted to 24.9%. 71+ year visitors totaled only 2.4%.
Geostat reports that the number of international visitors equal to 1.5 million that is a 13 percent higher compared to the previous year.
In particular, international visitors have made 1.2 million tourist-type visits, which is 13.8 percent higher compared to the previous year.
Moreover, 66.2 percent of international visitors were only tourists. The share of excursionists amounted to 27.9 percent, while 5.9 percent of visitors were both tourists and same-day visitors.
As mentioned, the majority of visitors, 23.1%, came from Russia, followed by Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey.
In April-June of 2019, the purpose of the majority of visits (46.6 percent) was a holiday, leisure and recreation, followed by visiting family or friends – 17.1%, transit – 15.7% and business – 10.8%.
The average number of nights spent during the visits equaled to 3.9 nights, which is 9.1 percent higher than the figure indicated in II quarter of 2018 (3.6 nights). 70 percent of visits were repeating a visit.
In addition, 58.7% of visitors said they are very satisfied with the visit, 31% said they were satisfied, and 7.9% neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.
The expenditures during the visits made in II quarter of 2019 equaled to 2.4 billion GEL, which is 24.6 percent increase compared to the previous year. Average expenditure on the visit increased by 10.3 percent compared to II quarter of the 2018 year and amounted to 1 261.6 GEL.
Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) stated that last month, the income from Russian tourists was $44.3 million less than the same period of last year.