Businessman Lasha Papashvili says hotels across the country are seeing a wave of booking cancellations for March and April due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. According to him, most cancellations come from Arab and Persian Gulf countries and affect properties in Tbilisi, Batumi, and Kakheti.
Papashvili notes that at the Hilton Garden Inn in Tbilisi alone, bookings worth around GEL 300,000 have been canceled. He says the decline is directly linked to flight cancellations and regional instability affecting travelers from the Gulf.
In response, hotel operators are shifting focus to neighboring markets, particularly Turkey and Russia, to attract tourists who might otherwise have traveled to Middle Eastern destinations. Papashvili emphasizes that redirecting these regional travel flows is now a key priority.
He adds that Georgian businesses and the government must work actively to position Georgia as a safe, stable, and attractive destination. Strengthened marketing efforts, he says, are essential to capture tourists diverted from Gulf countries, where the travel sector is currently experiencing major losses.
