Azerbaijan, Baku, July 3 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
During the first six months of 2012, some 1,690,494 tourists visited Georgia (53 percent increase compared to the same period of 2011), the Georgian National Tourism Agency told Trend via e-mail on Tuesday.
In January-June 2011, some 1,105,034 tourists visited Georgia.
Most visitors came to Georgia from Turkey (657,339 tourists), Azerbaijan (383,384), Armenia (294,951), Russia (154,629), Ukraine (28,819) and Iran (33,710) in the reporting period.
The number of Turkish tourists increased by 103 percent in January-June 2012 compared to the same period of 2011, Iran's visitors - by 92 percent, Russian tourists - by 76 percent, Azerbaijani tourists - by 28 percent, Armenian tourists - by 22 percent.
The number of tourists from EU countries and U.S also significantly increased in the first six months of 2012. Citizens from Poland, UK, Germany and France showed great interest, the growth in tourist number from these countries was 46, 20, 22 and 13 per cent respectively. The number of tourist from U.S increased by 21 percent in this period.
According to the Georgian Tourism Agency, in June, the number of visitors totaled 390,809, which is 71 percent more compared to the same period of last year. The number of tourists from Turkey increased by 145 percent in this period compared to June 2011, Russian tourists - by 100 percent, Iran's tourists - by 58 percent, Polish tourists - by 59 percent, Ukrainian tourists - by 56 percent, Armenian tourists - by 34 percent, Azerbaijani tourists - by 32 percent.
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