Giorgi Kvirikashvili: “The number of visitors to Georgia’s protected areas has increased by 33% and reached 860,000.”

The FINANCIAL — The Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, has spoken about the increased number of visitors to Georgia’s protected areas and stated: “The number of visitors to Georgia’s protected territories has shown an unprecedented growth – the number of visitors has been increased by 33% as compared to the previous year and reached 860,000. Of that number half are Georgian citizens and half foreign visitors.”

FactCheck took interest in the accuracy of the statement.

According to the information of the Agency of Protected Areas of Georgia, according to the figures of the first nine months of 2017, the number of visitors has reached 856,186, which is 33% more as compared to the same period of the previous year. Of note is that 43% of the visitors are foreign nationals. Of importance is that together with growth of foreign visitors, the domestic tourism figures are also on the rise. According to the nine month figures of 2017, domestic tourism has been increased by 37% at protected areas alone. This is a rather high figure.

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Since 2007, up until the present day, the number of visitors to the protected areas has increased from 7,700 to 856,186.

According to the figures of the first nine months of 2017, of protected areas, the highest number of visitors were registered in Prometheus Cave (147,982 visitors), Martvili Canyon (141,513 visitors) and Kazbegi National Park (132, 392 visitors). The only place, where the number of visitors was decreased is Chachuna protected areas, where the number of visitors in the first nine months of 2017 was 2,326, which is 10% less as compared to the same period of the previous year.

Conclusion

According to the information of the Agency of Protected Areas of Georgia, in the first nine months of 2017, the number of visitors to Georgia’s protected areas was 856,185, which is 33% more as compared to the same period of the previous year. Of importance is that 43% of visitors are foreign nationals.

FactCheck concludes that Giorgi Kvirikashvili’s statement is TRUE.