“The recovery rate of international tourist visits to Georgia in 2022 (72%) was higher than the global average (63%) and the average for Central/Eastern Europe (59%), although it was lower than the average for Europe as a whole (80%),” - the PMC Research Institute reported. The pace of recovery accelerated further in the first quarter of 2023 to 96%, which is also higher than the global (80%), European (90%) and Central/Eastern European (59%) averages.
Nevertheless, compared to the countries in the economy of which tourism plays a big role, Georgia's pace is not so impressive. Albania, which even surpassed the pre-pandemic level, Greece and Croatia stand out with a particularly high rate. Among these four countries, Georgia has the lowest result.
In the regional context, Turkey and Armenia had a better indicator than Georgia, both in the first quarter of 2022 and 2023.
In the first quarter of 2023, international tourist arrivals in the world as a whole recovered by 80% compared to the pre-pandemic period and reached 235 million. According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, tourism will return to the 2019 level by 2024.