Tourist arrivals up 27.1% y/y in February 2018
Total international arrivals to Georgia increased 19.8% y/y to 0.44mn visitors in February 2018, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A 27.1% y/y growth in tourist arrivals (0.18mn persons, 40.3% of total) drove arrival growth. Out of top countries by arrivals, in February 2018, visitors continued to increase from Armenia (+27.1% y/y), Turkey (+28.1% y/y), Russia (+24.2% y/y) and Iran (+130.6% y/y) while arrivals were down from Azerbaijan (-2.2% y/y). Arrivals from EU were up 27.7% y/y to over 15,627 visitors. Overall in 2M18 international arrivals were up 17.2% to 0.89mn persons while tourist arrivals were up 24.9% to 0.37mn persons.
International reserves up 8.7% y/y in February 2018
Gross international reserves were up 8.7% y/y to US$ 3.0bn in February 2018, while reserves were down 1.5% m/m, according to NBG. There were no FX interventions by central bank in February. Change in reserves was attributed to government FX operations and/or asset revaluation.
