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G&T Team
ResearchResearch Reports Georgia’s Tourism Market Watch – 4Q24/full 2024 review and 2025 outlook

Georgia’s Tourism Market Watch – 4Q24/full 2024 review and 2025 outlook

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International visitors

International visitors grew by 5.1% y/y to 1.4mn in 4Q24, with tourists, the primary segment, rising by 8.4% y/y, while same-day visitors down by 4.8% y/y. Tourist numbers fully recovered to 100.8% of 4Q19 level in 4Q24, bringing total 2024 tourist arrivals to 100.2% of 2019 level. Notably, the full-year tourist rebound was largely driven by 1Q24’s (106.4% recovery) strong performance, as subsequent quarters were impacted by political instability, particularly affecting arrivals from high-spending markets such as the EU.

Visitor growth in 4Q24 was primarily fueled by strong arrivals from Israel and Russia, recording the growth of 136.1% y/y and 15.4% y/y, respectively, along with a notable rise from India & China (44.7% y/y). In contrast, visitor numbers from the EU declined by 3.5% y/y in 4Q24. Overall, visitor growth in 2024 was primarily driven by non-neighboring markets, including Israel, China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and central Asia.

Tourism revenues

Tourism revenues amounted to US$ 963.7mn in 4Q24, marking a 10.3% y/y, driven by October-November growth, while political instability caused a 10.1% y/y drop in December revenues, according to our estimates.

Overall, tourism revenuesreached US$ 4.4bn in 2024, up 7.3% y/y. Revenue growth in 2024 was driven by the Middle Eastern countries, particularly Israel (+41.6% y/y), Iran (+17.9% y/y) and Saudi Arabia (+21.2% y/y) as well as Asian markets, led by India and China. Meanwhile, revenues from most neighboring countries declined, with revenues from Russia, the largest contributor, down 2.1% y/y to US$ 850mn in 2024.

2025 outlook

We expect 5.3mn tourists to visit Georgia in 2025 in our baseline scenario, up from 5.1mn in 2024. In a pessimistic scenario, we do not expect a sharp decline in tourist arrivals, as tourists from the Middle East and Asian countries are expected to continue growing, having already shown growth during the turbulent year of 2024. Additionally, possible reopening of the Azeri land border is upside for tourism. We project tourism revenues at $4.5bn in 2025, up from $4.4bn in 2024.