Tourist arrivals up 23.0% y/y in January 2018
Total international arrivals to Georgia increased 14.8% y/y to 0.44mn visitors in January 2018, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A 23.0% y/y growth in tourist arrivals (0.19mn persons, 42.7% of total) drove arrival growth. Out of top countries by arrivals, in January 2018, visitors continued to increase from Armenia (+20.9% y/y), Russia (+14.6% y/y), Azerbaijan (+0.8% y/y), Turkey (+20.1% y/y) and Iran (+92.4% y/y). Arrivals from EU were up 13.8% y/y to over 12,100 visitors.
International reserves up 9.7% y/y in January 2018
Gross international reserves were up 9.7% y/y to US$ 3.1bn in January 2018, while reserves were up 1.0% m/m, according to NBG. There were no FX interventions by central bank in January. Change in reserves was attributed to government FX operations and/or asset revaluation.
