Starting on July 8, 2019, Russian airlines are temporarily prohibited from carrying out air transportation (including commercial) of citizens from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of Georgia.
“If we allow the most radical scenario, the Russian visitor will no longer enter Georgia from July, the number of visitors in 2019 will reach 8.3 million, which is higher than 2017,” – says Transparency International Georgia. According to them, 70% of visitors from Russia enter Georgia by land transport and 29% by air flights.
“In 2017, a single Russian visitor spent 984 GEL (400 USD) on average.
Suspension of direct air traffic, if travelers will not use other ways, will reduce Georgia’s revenue by about 100 million dollars in 2019 “- explains TI.
In recent years, the growth rate of visitors from Russian was the highest among neighboring countries:
2018 – 1.4 million visitors
2017 – 1.1 million visitors
2016 – 0.8 million visitors
2015 – 0.7 million visitors
2014 – 0.6 million visitors