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countries entered into force on 9 January.
“The completion of the Indicative TEN-T Investment Action Plan is a joint commitment to deliver tangible results for citizens across the region. The Plan will assist decision-makers in prioritising strategic investments in transport infrastructure with the aim of completing the TEN-T network defined as one of the 20 deliverables for 2020 in the Joint Declaration of the last Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels,” EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn said.
“Enhanced transport connectivity both within the Eastern Partnership region, and between the Eastern Partnership region and the EU has the potential to bolster economic growth and create job opportunities. The Plan shall also serve to highlight the importance of road safety as well as digital solutions in new projects, and to align design standards with current EU practices,” added EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc.
9.1.4 Tourism sector news
The number of international tourists visiting Georgia moved up by 2.2% y/y to 882,130 in Q1, according to the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA).
The total number of tourists, including Georgians, rose by 5.2% y/y to 1,617,548 in the period.
Georgia markets itself as a “new destination” in international tourism.
With 114.6% more travellers than in 2018, Israel saw the biggest increase in visitors to Georgia followed by China (+59.3%) and Saudi Arabia (+52.8%).
As regards visitors arriving from the European Union, more tourists particularly came from Latvia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania and Germany.
In January and February this year, tourism, an important part of Georgia’s battle against its current account deficit, brought revenues of $333.7mn to the country, up 4.7% y/y.
9.1.5 Infrastructure and construction sector news
Three new cable car routes are planned for the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the city’s mayor Kahka Kaladze announced at a meeting on April 24. Tbilisi already has two cable car routes. One runs from Rike Park on the left bank of the Mtkvari river to Narikala Fortress, while the other, which reopened in 2016 after a seven-year hiatus, connects the city centre to Turtle Lake. Tourism is a growing sector in the South Caucasus country, where the most recent data from the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) shows the number of international tourists visiting in 1Q19 moved up by 2.2% y/y. Tbilisi is one of the main attractions, along with the Black Sea coast and the mountains.
If construction goes ahead, the new cable cars will operate on the Samgori-Vazisubani, Akhmeteli-Temka and Sameba-Makhata Mountain routes, according to a statement from Tbilisi city hall.
The first step will be a technical and economic study that will cost around GEL750,000 (around €250,000) and take five months to prepare, Kaladze said. “The cable car theme is very important in the development of our city's transport infrastructure,” Kaladze commented.
“We talked about this issue a few months ago at the government session when the task was given to allocating specific areas where cable car projects could be implemented. The investigation revealed that there are three interesting
39 GEORGIA Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com