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Tourism in Georgia is an important component of the economy of Georgia. International tourism is a rapidly growing industry. In 2015 it employed around 158,500 people, producing 6.7% of Georgia's GDP by providing US$1.94 billion of revenue. 2015's tourists numbers reached a record high of 2,278,562 people. In 2016, international tourist arrivals increased again, reaching 2,714,773, with resultant revenue estimated to exceed US$2 billion. The expenditures of foreign visitors to Georgia have a significant effect on the balance of payments, and approximately 61.4% of Georgia’s service export revenue comes from tourism. International visitors stay an average of 5.1 days.
Contents
- Map of Georgia
- Accommodation
- Arrivals by country
- Culture
- Ecotourism
- Safety
- Practical information
- References
Map of Georgia
The official body tasked with promoting tourism to Georgia is the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA). In 2015, the GNTA participated in 26 international and domestic tourism fairs, conducted marketing campaigns on nine target markets, and hosted 64 press and familiarization trips.
Accommodation
In 2016, there were a total of 1,765 accommodation units registered in the GNTA database, with a total of 57,049 beds. The regions with the most beds were Tbilisi - 14,837 (26%) and Adjara - 11,615 (20%). The most prevalent form of accommodation is hotels (36,479 beds), followed by Family Hotels (9,611 beds). In 2016, 37 new hotels with a combined bed number of 3,119 were opened. From 2017 to 2019, 129 hotels are planned to open, with a total bed number of 15,355.
Hotel chains with operations in Georgia include: Courtyard by Marriott, Mercure, Millennium Hotel, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, and Radisson Hotels.
Arrivals by country
The most common citizenships of international visitors arriving in 2015 and 2016:
Culture
Georgia is one of the oldest wine regions in the world and winemaking is deeply ingrained in the culture of the country. The oldest archaeological remains related to grape seeds and winemaking dating back 8,000 years have been found in Georgia, while today the country has over 500 varieties of grape.
Ecotourism
41% of Georgia's territory is covered by forests, with 25% of Georgia's territory lying within protected national parks. Protected areas of Georgia offer various services including: boating tours, birdwatching, eco-educational tours, hiking, horse riding, biking, safari tours, sport fishing. Georgia is a home to about 5,601 species of animals, including 648 species of vertebrates (more than 1% of the species found worldwide) and many of these species are endemics.
In 2016, 311,471 foreign and 423,203 Georgian citizens visited the Protected Areas of Georgia.
Safety
A travel advisory was in place during and after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. It had the severity level of "extreme danger", due to the risks associated with fallout from the war, including land mines. Countries that have issued travel warnings included New Zealand.
Since then tourist safety has improved, and in 2017 the International Crime Index ranked Georgia as the 7th safest country out of the 125 in its index.
Practical information
Georgia uses the standard Europlug (220 V, 50 Hz), the international dialing prefix is +995, it uses the metric system, and its currency is the lari (GEL or ₾).