The Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) has announced that 882,130 domestic tourists and 1,617,548 international travelers came to Georgia in the first quarter of 2019, reports georgiatoday.com

The number of domestic tourists has increased by 5.1 percent compared to the same period in 2018, whilst the number of international travelers has risen by 2.2 percent. In January and February this year, tourism brought $333.7 million revenue to Georgia, $15 million more than during the same period in 2018.

Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors for Georgia. In 2018, the number of international arrivals reached a record high of 8.7 million people with the foreign exchange income in the year's first three quarters amounting to $2.6 billion. The country plans to host 11 million tourists by 2025 with annual revenues reaching $6.6 billion. The expenditures of foreign visitors to Georgia have a significant effect on the balance of payments, and approximately 35.9% of Georgia’s goods and service export revenue comes from tourism.

The Georgian National Tourism Administration is a legal entity within public law, a part of the system of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. It independently conducts tourism promotion activities under state control. Goals and objectives of GNTA are the formation and implementation of the Georgian tourism development state policy, the promotion of sustainable tourism development, the promotion of a high export income growth and job creation in the country on the basis of tourism development, the attraction of foreign tourists to Georgia and the development of domestic tourism as well as the promotion of human resources development in the field of tourism destinations, infrastructure and tourism.