Georgia has seen a big increase in the number of tourists visiting the country, welcoming more than8 million international travelers in the period of January-November 2018, up by 10.6% year-on-year, Emerging Europe reports.

“This is the first year ever when income from tourism will exceed three billion euros,” said Giorgi Chogovadze, the head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration.

The largest number of visitors came from Russia (1.34 million), followed by Azerbaijan (1.3 million), Armenia (1.16 million) and Turkey (1.03 million). A major growth in the number of visitors from western Europe, particularly the Netherlands and Germany, was observed.

Official data show that the most popular period was January-April, where incomes increased by around 28%.

Armenia has also seen a big increase in visitor numbers, up by 8.8% to 1.28 million as of the end of October.