Over five million foreign guests have enjoyed the sights and sounds Georgia has to offer this year.

Between January and October 2016 the number of tourists who visited Georgia increased by 19.7 percent, while the number of international travellers had increased by 8.1percent year-on-year (y/y).

In the first 10 months of the year Georgia hosted 5,406,188 international visitors (tourists, transit, other). Of this number 2,372,351 were tourists, said Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) today.

Between January and October 2016 the most international visitors came from:

• Iran – 494 percent increase y/y
• India – 232 percent increase
• Syria – 209 percent increase
• Egypt – 179 percent increase
• Saudi Arabia – 116 percent increase
• Latvia – 26.8 percent increase
• Ukraine – 22.8 percent increase
• Czech Republic – 15.2 percent increase
• Russia - 13.2 percent increase
• Lithuania - 11.6 percent increase
• Azerbaijan – 11 percent increase
• Turkey – 9.1 percent decrease
• Armenia – 0.03 percent increase

Tourism in October 2016

In October 2016 alone, 527,157 international visitors arrived in Georgia. This was 4.5 percent more than September 2015, said the GNTA.

Meanwhile 215,620 tourists spent more than 24 hours in Georgia and this was a 20.9 percent increase y/y.

Last month the most international visitors came from:

• Iran – 344 percent increase
• Egypt – 185 percent increase
• India – 130 percent increase
• Israel – 82 percent increase
• Bulgaria – 54 percent increase
• Poland – 36 percent increase
• Lithuania – 36 percent increase
• Latvia – 33 percent increase
• Germany – 32 percent increase
• Armenia – 2.1 percent decrease
• Azerbaijan – 10.1 percent increase
• Turkey – 16.6 percent increase
• Russia – 13 percent increase
• Ukraine – 15.8 percent increase