Galt & Taggart: Rental Prices in Tbilisi Increased by 71.6% in April

According to the Galt & Taggart Tourism Overview, tourism revenue in April was $ 188.6 million, growing 3.8 times from the previous year and 70.6 percent more than in 2019.

According to the research organization, 214,644 visitors visited Georgia in April 2022, which is 160.1% annual growth and 39.0% of the 2019 level. This increase was mainly due to the growth of tourists, which amounted to 52.3% of the 2019 level (48.5% in the previous month). One-day visits were still low, reaching only 16.0% of 2019 levels, due to strict border crossing regulations.

The tourism revenue index also includes the expenditures of migrants (from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine) who arrived in Georgia after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

"We estimate that 80,000-120,000 visitors came to Georgia from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine for a longer period than tourists. The effect of migrant inflows was most noticeable in the real estate market - rental prices in Tbilisi increased by 71.6% compared to the previous year, and by 21.7% compared to 2019 in April 2022. It should be noted that due to the flow of migrants, these two statistics - visitors and incomes - currently reflect different trends.

• 19.3% of tourism revenues came from Russia in April 2022, followed by Belarus (14.9% of the total), Israel (11.1%), the European Union (11.0%), and Ukraine (10.3%).

•Under the baseline scenario, we forecast a 75% recovery in tourism revenue in 2022 compared to 2019, although given the migrant effect, the likelihood of a faster recovery (85%) is increased," the study said.