In Q1 2018, the number of visits perfumed by international visitors in Georgia was 1,582,382, which was 14% more than last year.
The purpose of the majority of international visits (35%) is a vacation, entertainment, recreation. Often the purpose of visits reported is visiting friends/relatives (26.8%), transit (15.6%), shopping (9.8%,) economic activities (7.8%). Only for 1.8% of visits, other purposes were reported.
According to the National Tourism Administration, the average duration of a visit was 4.3 nights and this rate was different for residents of different countries. Residents of neighboring countries, apart from Russia, stay in Georgia for a relatively short period. The average stay of the visitors from Russia is longer – 5.8 nights. Europeans are also distinguished with the duration of visit (Central and Eastern Europe – 7.6 nights, other Europe – 10.4 nights), as well as visitors from “other countries”. The average stay of visitors from the latter is 7.8 nights.
51% of international visits were in the capital, which is followed by Batumi with 21.5%. Relatively less visits were registered to other cities and destinations, among them: Marneuli (13%), Gudauri (11.1%), Kazbegi (6%), Mtskheta (5.8%), Kutaisi (3.5%), Rustavi (3.5%), Borjomi (2.9%), Akhaltsikhe (2.3%) and Bakuriani (2.3%).
Total cash spent by international visitors reached 1.4 bln GEL, while average cash spent during one visit makes 1,060 GEL. The biggest share of the expenses was for food and beverages (29.6% of total expenses) and accommodation (22.2%). Also, a significant part of expenses was made for recreation and cultural activities (18.3%), while shopping expenses made only 12.1% of total expenses of the visitors.
Of neighboring countries, residents of Russia were distinguished with the highest average expenses (1,338 GEL), followed by Turkey with 1,189 GEL, Armenia with 562 GEL and Azerbaijan with 401 GEL.
Before coming to Georgia, visitors used various sources of information. In case of 47.9% of visits, they collected information from friends/relatives, 2.1% of visitors, the source of information about Georgia was internet, another 12.1%, received information from organizations/business partners. For the majority of visits (54.3%), visitors already had information from their previous visits. A major part of visitors, for whom this was their first visit to Georgia, collect information about countries from friends and relatives (78%), in 41.2% of cases, information was collected from internet and for 10.7% of visits, the source of information was an organization/business partner.
