Tourism revenue at $3.3 billion in January-September - Tourism Administration

Revenue from international tourism reached $3.3 billion in the first nine months of 2023, the Georgian National Tourism Administration said on Tuesday, with the Deputy Economy Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili calling the numbers a “record-high” from the industry, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.

Revenue received between January and September was 25.9 percent higher from the pre-pandemic figures in 2019 and 29.2 above the numbers in the same period of 2022, the Administration said.

The Ministry cited Kvrivishvili as saying the recovery of the tourism industry in the country was proceeding with a “very fast, healthy dynamic”.

Of course, this is the result of the right strategy and action plan. We are working very closely with the private sector [and] airlines to increase tourist flows in our country, to receive even more affluent tourists from Europe, the Gulf countries, as well as the so-called ‘long-haul’ countries”, she said.

The Head of the GNTA, Maia Omiadze, said her office was “constantly” running marketing campaigns in target markets ranging from Europe to the Persian Gulf.

It should be noted that from next year we will start active campaigns in distant countries as well - which, of course, will increase the number of tourists and in itself will affect the income", Omiadze said.

In the third quarter, the domestic tourism revenue reached $1.44 billion, up 28.4 percent on 2019 figures and 5.3 percent from the same period of 2022, the GNTA added.