According to the decision of the GNERC, the electricity tariff for commercial subscribers in Georgia has increased by 11-13 tetri per kilowatt hour. As it turns out, the grown tariffs will also put a burden on the tourism sector, which is already stopped due to the COVID-regulations.
Erekle Kokaia, CEO of hotel management company Inn Group told BM.GE, that any tax increase would be an additional stress for the business in this period.
Erekle Kokaia explains that hotels in mountain resorts constantly consume energy due to the climatic conditions.
"While we were trying to reduce all costs as much as possible, it turns out that from 2021 we have to pay higher tariffs. It's inconvenient. If we had any kind of income, we would be able to cope with these expenses”, Kokaia declares.
The CEO of hotel management company declares that the country is closed and they are not able to work on domestic tourism, so the hotels in Bakuriani and Gudauri are shut down. Kokaia sees the solution only in the opening, otherwise the founders will have to invest their own resources.
"We have high hopes that the sector will be able to cover the increased expenditures in the case of opening from February. Representatives of the private sector have communication with the Ministry of Economy and the Tourism Administration and ask them to allow us to work independently in February-March. This will allow us to not only operate hotels and employ people, but also cover costs, including increased rates”, Kokaia declares.
The Inn Group manages 4 hotels: 2 in Tbilisi - Iveria Inn and Royal Inn; 2 mountain resorts - Bakuriani Inn and Gudauri Inn.
Kokaia declared that the company lost 1.3 million GEL due to the “lockdown”.
