The founder of the Hotels Federation says Kakheti’s hotel sector is currently experiencing the strongest negative impact from the downturn in Georgia’s MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) tourism segment. According to Shalva Alaverdashvili, many hotels in the region relied heavily on conferences funded by international and local NGOs.
Alaverdashvili explained that NGO-financed corporate events played a crucial role in generating income during Kakheti’s off-season. With these events now largely halted, the winter months became particularly challenging for hotels, leaving them without an alternative revenue stream.
As a result, he noted that several Kakheti hotels were forced to temporarily shut down during the winter, as maintaining operations became financially unsustainable without MICE-related business.
According to Alaverdashvili, many of these hotels now plan to resume operations in the summer, when the traditional tourism season begins and demand is expected to recover.
