The Georgian Dream leadership frequently highlights the rise in tourism activity, especially in Ajara. Tornike Rizhvadze, a member of the Georgian Dream political council, revisited the aforementioned topic a few days ago, stating: “We have always dreamed of transforming Ajara, Batumi, into a shining star of tourism and I am pleased to announce that we have achieved this goal.”
FactCheck has decided to investigate and report on the state of tourism in Ajara, focusing on the countries whose citizens visit the region most frequently, based on data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia. Currently, GeoStat has only released data for the first three quarters of 2024. Furthermore, it is worth noting that whilst some of GeoStat’s data is not disaggregated by region, an overall picture can still be inferred by analysing border crossing statistics.
Notably, 2019 was chosen as the baseline for comparison as 2020-2021 were marked by the pandemic and related restrictions. Analysis reveals that the highest average monthly number of visits to Ajara from 2019 to 2024 by non-resident visitors to Georgia aged 15 years and older was recorded in the third quarter of 2024 based on the data from the first three quarters of the previous year. The region also saw the highest number of visits from Georgian residents.
Graph 1: Quarterly Data of the Average Monthly Visits to Ajara by Non-Resident Visitors Aged 15 Years and Older (2019-2024)
Source: National Statistics Office of Georgia
Note: GeoStat did not record data from the second quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2022 due to the pandemic-related restrictions, including limitations on border crossings.
The number of visits by non-resident visitors in 2023 is projected to surpass the pre-pandemic levels recorded in 2019 when annualising the average monthly figures.
Graph 2: Annual Visits to Ajara by Non-Resident Visitors Aged 15 Years and Older (2019-2023)
Source: author’s calculations based on data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia
The total number of visits for the first three quarters of 2024 approximately amounted to 2,113,500 (based on the average monthly visits calculated over the first nine months). It is important to note that the figure above is not final and the exact number will be available once GeoStat publishes the data for the fourth quarter in a few months. As of now, the total for the first three quarters of 2024 is 57,300 fewer visits as compared to the same period in 2023 which marked 2,170,800 visits.
Furthermore, the number of visits to the Autonomous Republic of Ajara by resident visitors from Georgia aged 15 years and older has increased, according to data from the first three quarters of 2024. Residents had already made more visits to the region in 2023 than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (see FactCheck’s article). The total number of visits during the first three quarters of 2024 is higher than that of the same period in 2023.
Graph 3: Quarterly Data of the Average Monthly Visits to Ajara by Resident Visitors from Georgia Aged 15 Years and Older (2019-2024)
Graph 3 confirms that the average monthly data from the first three quarters of the previous year exceeds those of the same periods in both 2019 and 2023. The annual data is presented below.
Graph 4: Annual Visits to Ajara by Resident Visitors from Georgia Aged 15 Years and Older (2019-2023)
Source: author’s calculations based on data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia
The number of visits made by resident individuals totalled 1,731,600 when summing up the figures for the first three quarters of 2024. This is 130,500 higher as compared to the figures marked during the same period in 2023 which saw 1,601,100 visits.
Summing up the visits made by both residents and non-residents, the picture looks as follows:
Graph 5: Annual (Total) Number of Visits to Ajara by Resident and Non-Resident Visitors of Georgia Aged 15 Years and Older (2019-2023 and the First Three Quarters of 2024)
Source: author’s calculations based on data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia
Note: The graphs above reflect the total number of visits and imply that a single visitor may have made multiple visits.
GeoStat does not record certain metrics by region, as mentioned above. For instance, the distribution of the average monthly number of visits by non-resident visitors to Georgia by country of citizenship is calculated only for the country as a whole. However, it is reasonable to assume that the distribution of visits by citizenship also applies to Ajara and thus the highest number of visits likely comes from citizens of Russia and Turkey, considering that Ajara is the most visited region after Tbilisi and more visits were made to the coastal region than to the capital (Ajara saw 393,200 visits, whilst Tbilisi – 374,900).
Table 1: Distribution of the Average Monthly Number of Visits by Non-Resident Visitors to Georgia Aged 15 Years and Older by Country of Citizenship (Thousands)
* Note: This refers to citizens of Georgia who are residents of another country.
Source: National Statistics Office of Georgia
Analysing Table 1, we observe that citizens of Azerbaijan accounted for the highest average monthly number of visits with 127,200 visits, followed by the Russian Federation with 122,600 visits and Armenia with 113,800 visits in the pre-pandemic year. As for the EU member states, the average monthly number of visits from their citizens constituted 40,400. The average monthly number of visits from citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan and EU member states experienced a sharp decline in 2023.
Graph 6: Average Monthly Number of Visits by Non-Resident Visitors to Georgia Aged 15 Years and Older by Country of Citizenship (2019-2023 and the First Six Months of 2024)
Source: National Statistics Office of Georgia
The average monthly number of visits is as follows: Armenia – 81,400, Azerbaijan – 18,100, Russia – 123,400, Turkey – 117,800, the European Union – 35,900, according to data of the first three quarters of 2024. These figures indicate that the average visits by citizens of the Russian Federation and Turkey have increased in 2024 as compared to 2019. Observing Graph 6 reveals that the number of visits by citizens of Russia consistently surpassed the number of visits by citizens of Turkey, except for 2021 and 2022. Additionally, the aforementioned metric exceeds all other data points as well, except for 2019. Citizens of Azerbaijan accounted for the highest number of visits to Georgia in 2019[1]. Whilst citizens of the EU member states visited Georgia more frequently in the first nine months of the previous year as compared to 2023, the overall number of visits still shows a declining trend in comparison to 2019. For your information, the Department of Tourism and Resorts of Ajara Autonomous Republic spends GEL millions from the republic budget for tourism marketing in both local and international markets. Specifically, GEL 7,135,500 was allocated in 2023, GEL 9,885,000 had been planned for 2024 and GEL 8,611,000 is projected to be spent in 2025 for this purpose.
