Ekaterine Gvelesiani, founder of the “Paliani” Hotel in Mestia declares, that the recent increase in visitor numbers to Georgia is a natural trend, as global tourism continues to grow each year. However, she believes that for Georgia, the focus should shift from quantity to quality, specifically, attracting high-spending tourists.
“In 2025, the number of tourists globally has already increased by 5% compared to the previous year. Accordingly, some processes are already in line with natural laws and no special efforts are needed to increase the number of tourists. It is important to increase the quality and attract the segment and capture the markets that are strategically important for our country. Attracting high-spending tourists is more important than quantity. For some reason, we only emphasize quantity, so many visits , this is not favorable and desirable,” Gvelesiani said in an interview with BMG TV.
When asked how the increased tourism numbers and revenues have affected businesses, Gvelesiani noted that while the overall number of tourists in Georgia has grown, the benefits have not been evenly distributed. Hotels in Tbilisi and several other cities have reported higher occupancy, but in the regions – particularly in Svaneti, revenues have actually decreased despite fuller bookings.
“In our case, we are forced to adjust our prices to the new segment and markets from which tourists come. Unfortunately, this is no longer a high-spending segment, so we have to reduce prices. Compared to previous years, we have reduced the cost of accommodation by about 30–40%, which naturally affects revenues. Revenue consists of two components, occupancy and room price. When occupancy increases but the price is reduced, it is natural that overall revenue cannot increase,” she explained.
According to Gvelesiani, this year Paliani Hotel was mainly visited by tourists from China, India, Israel, Turkey, and Pakistan.
“The hotel’s occupancy rate increased by 20% year-on-year, reaching approximately 85–90% at the peak of the summer tourist season, which is a very high figure. This is certainly positive in the short term, although we achieved it mainly by lowering prices. Accordingly, total income did not increase significantly,” she said.
Gvelesiani also noted that due to reduced demand from higher-spending guests, the hotel’s restaurant remained closed this year.
“We also have a restaurant on the territory of the Paliani Hotel, which we did not open this year because there was no demand. The upper-middle-class segment, which spends more money on food, was no longer in Svaneti this year, and due to the lack of demand, we were forced to close the restaurant,” she added.
