tbilisi international airport

Tbilisi international airport. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–21 percent more foreigners visited Georgia in April 2013 than in the same month the year before. In the first five months of the year as a whole, 32 percent more foreigners visited the country, compared to the preceding year.

These figures were presented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which keeps track of the number of foreigners who are crossing the border. According to their data, 362 695 person visited Georgia in April, 2013 and 291 593 in January-April 2013.

In recent months, the ministry has suggested categorizing visitors, as the country doesn’t have a method yet to determine exactly how many of the visitors who are tourists. The ministry therefore suggests introducing optional categories of visitors: A tourist is defined as a foreigner who crosses the state border and remains in the country no less than 24 hours and no more than one year. A transit visit is a visit by a foreigner who crosses the border and after no longer than 24 hours goes on to a third country. The third category is ‘the rest’, all other types of visits.

In first five months of 2013 there came 469 095 tourists, which is 36 percent more than in 2012; 202 697 transit visit, 15.7 percent more than for five months in 2012 and other type of visits were 619 801, 48 percent more than in 2012.