"Kazakh tourists are active and high-spending, we must use this potential," said Irina Kvakhadze, head of research at TBC Capital. TBC Capital’s research has prepared a study on Georgia-Kazakhstan economic cooperation, which discusses the trends in trade, tourism and foreign direct investment between the countries.
The author of the study says that the economic relations between Georgia and Kazakhstan are characterized by growing dynamics, although there is great potential in several specific areas. Irina Kvakhadze especially makes a focus on tourism.
"It is an important environment that Kazakh tourists are economically active, high-spending, they are equal to European tourists in terms of spending, as well as the length of stay in Georgia. There is potential to increase their attraction and use this pace.
Also, if we look at FDI (foreign direct investments), we will see that Kazakhstan is the largest investor in Georgia in Central Asia. The dynamics show that Kazakh investments are characterized by some variability from 2012 to the present, so it is interesting to observe what should be done now to resume this activity?" - says Irina Kvakhadze.
According to the statistics of the National Tourism Administration, in 2019 there were 103 thousand visits of international tourists from Kazakhstan to Georgia, in 2020 this figure was reduced to 14 thousand, and in 2021 there were 67 thousand visits. In April this year, 6,032 visits were recorded from Kazakhstan, which is a 268% increase compared to the same period last year.
