Russia accounted for 20% (USD 25 million) of tourism revenues in March. Tourism revenues of Georgia stood at USD 175 million in March (up 5.9% y/y and accounting for 71.3% of 2019), the highest recovery since tourism resumed, - according to the Galt&Taggart report.
As of the report, this tourism revenue figure captures also migrants impact (from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine), arriving in Georgia after Russia-Ukraine war started. Exact number of migrants is not available, however these migrants provide additional opportunity for Georgian economy in different sectors like trade, real estate, IT, etc. and their impact is already visible in increased prices on real estate market. Notably, due to migrant flow these 2 statistics – visitors and revenues - are not reflecting the same trends now.
Russia accounted for 20% of Mar-22 tourism revenues, followed by Belarus (17%), Turkey (9%), Israel (9%), and EU (8%).
"In 2022, we expect tourism revenues to recover to 75% of 2019 level in a baseline scenario, but we also do not rule out faster recovery (85%) considering migrants’ impact", - the investmnet Agency declares.
Top country by arrivals was Turkey (22.5% of total), followed by Russia (12.0% of total), and Armenia (11.7% of total). While low, number of arrivals from Israel, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan surpassed 2019 levels.
