01.02.2024, Tbilisi.
Georgia will receive a record tourism revenue of $4.125 billion in 2023 after the resumption of direct air flights to Russia, the National Bank of the republic said on February 1.
The income was $608.7 million or 17% more than in 2022. Russian tourists brought the most money to the country – $938.3m, with Turkey in second place.
The National Bank added that the statistics did not include funds received from the citizens of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, who have been in Georgia for more than a year. In general, this is more than 30% of the money spent by citizens from these countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 10, 2023, lifted the ban on direct flights to Georgia imposed in 2019. Tbilisi supported this decision, and two Russian and one Georgian airlines received permission to operate flights.
The first flight from Moscow to Tbilisi arrived on May 19. Georgian Minister Levan Davitashvili said that he expects the lifting of the flight ban to have an effect in the tourism sector of $300 to 400 million a year after the resumption of air service.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
