The loss of Russian tourists will not be a disaster for Georgia. The problem is that this sad fact entails a whole series of other problems that will affect the country’s economy says an expert in the field of economics Vakhtang Charaya in the commentary to the publication “Dalma News”.
According to him, the first thing that everyone in Georgia needs to realize is that for Russia it is a key economic partner, on which a number of areas depend, starting with remittances and tourism, and ending with the production of wine and mineral water.
“It is absurd to assert that Russian tourists represent only 15 percent of the total tourist flow, when reality says otherwise. They provide about one third of all revenues to this area, ”Charay said, adding that the lack of Russian tourists will result in a reduction in Georgia’s GDP growth from 5% to 3.5%.
And the situation could be less destructive if other areas of the Georgian economy were not related to the tourist one, the expert continued. Thus, first of all, the “lower link” of the economic chain will suffer – the owners of mini-hotels and cafes, employees of these institutions, who will be “on the street”.
Charaya does not exclude that it is possible to get out of the crisis by diversifying the tourist flow, but this will not happen quickly, and no one in the list of potential tourists such that they would leave as much money in Georgia as Russian ones.
As previously reported by News Front, recently Russophobic protests in Georgia resulted in Moscow suspending air traffic between Russia and Georgia. It happened at the height of the tourist season, which led to a number of negative trends. In particular, the national currency has depreciated with incredible speed. Recently, its figure was 2.92 for 1 US dollar. That was exactly how much the Georgian lari cost at the moment of its creation.