Georgia: more Russian tourists coming in, but spending less

The majority of people arriving in Georgia in early 2019 are Russians, GeoStat reports.

GeoStat says that in the first quarter of 2019, 222,700 people arrived in Georgia from Russia, which is 21.4 percent of the total number of tourist arrivals. In comparison with the figure for 2018, this indicator has increased by 24.3 percent.

One million visitors since the beginning of the year

Such an increase in the number of Russians is taking place while the total number of visitors to the country has hardly grown.

In total, in the first quarter of 2019, Georgia was visited by a million foreign visitors, which is 1.7 percent more than the same period last year.

Of these, there were 900,000 tourists (those who stayed in the country for at least a day) – this is just five percent more than last year.

Visitors spend less

GeoStat says that in the first quarter of 2019, guests in the country spend about 1.2 billion lari [about $437 million], which is 15.2 percent less than the same indicator for last year.

GeoStat also reports that the average expenditure per visit decreased compared to last year by 16.1 percent and amounted to 889.7 lari [about $323].

According to data released by the national statistics service, visitors spend the most money on food and drinks.