sioni

Lake Sioni outside of Tbilisi. (DF Watch.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The number of visitors to Georgia increased 12.6 percent in September, compared to the year before, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ department for analysis.

The total number of visitors in September was 568,663. Out of this, 227,130 were tourists – 15.8 percent more than last year. The number of people who transited through Georgia was 143,258 – 10.4 percent more than last year. Those who came for other reasons numbered 198,275 – 10.8 percent more than in September 2014.

In the first nine months of 2015, the number of visitors was more than 4.4 million. This is a 6.7 percent increase compared to the first nine months of 2014.

The most important countries of origin were Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine. There was an increase in number of visitors from Israel, Belarus, Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Nine percent more people visited from the United States.