"The statistics department lives in another country. They count the tourism of another country", - this is how Shalva Alaverdashvil, founder of the Georgian Hotel, Restaurant and Café Federation (HOREKA) responds to the statistical data on tourism published by the National Statistics Office of Georgia for 2023.
In 2023, the number of arrivals of international non-resident travelers in the territory of Georgia equaled 7.1 million, which is 30.3 percent higher compared to the data of the previous year. Most of the incomes, 45.5 percent, were made by travelers of 31-50 age group.
In 2023 the largest number of visitors (1.2 million visitors) was from Russian Federation, which amounts to 23.2 percent of total number of visitors. Alaverdashvili says that the date does not coincide with the reality of Georgian hotels.
"The agency reports, that we had up to 1.3 million Russian tourists last year, while the number of Russian tourists is at a historical minimum. I speak on behalf of the Association. In general, I don't know who entered, how long they stayed, whether they lived in their own communes or in tents, but there have never been so few Russians in the hotels. Their number decreased to 1.4%. Reality and statistics do not coincide with each other," Alaverdashvili told bm.ge.
