More than 577 thousand Russians rested in Georgia in the first half of the year – Kommersant

From January 1 to July 1, 2023, 577,632 citizens of the Russian Federation visited Georgia. This refers not to residents, relocators or those who have traveled through the country in transit, but tourists. Such information is published on official website National Tourism Administration (NAT) of Georgia.

During the same period last year, the number of Russian tourists was only 247,149. Growth year on year – 133.7%. The first half of 2019 is considered the record for the number of tourists from the Russian Federation – 691,587 guests.

In the first six months of this year, only Turkey is slightly ahead of Russia in terms of the number of tourists visiting Georgia – 582,527 people.

According to the NAT, the vast majority of visits from the Russian Federation were made to Tbilisi and the Autonomous Republic of Adjara – the main Georgian tourist region on the Black Sea with the capital Batumi.

It is expected that in the second half of the year the number of Russian tourists will increase, since from May 15 between the Russian Federation and Georgia resumed direct flights.

In just six months of 2023, 2.529 million tourists from different countries visited Georgia. Whereas for the first two quarters of last year – only 1.439 million (an increase of 75.7%).

NAT clarifies that 47.8% of visitors belong to the age group from 31 to 50 years and 38.7% of them are women.

In the first half of this year, Georgia’s total tourism income amounted to $1.7 billion, which is 48.8% more than in the first half of 2022. Then the total income from tourism in the first six months amounted to $ 1.143 billion. Such data published investment bank Galt & Taggart.

How a passenger liner with Russians was expelled from the port of Batumi – in material “b”.

Giorgi Dvali, Tbilisi