BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 18. The recovery of visitor inflow from Azerbaijan to Georgia to the 2019 level was the slowest in the region in March 2022 - at 12 percent, Trend reports via the research from the TBC Capital.
However, the recovery pace of visitor inflow from Azerbaijan to Georgia accelerated month-on-month, compared to 9 percent of the 2019 level in February 2022, the report said.
Azerbaijan’s share in the total visitor inflow to Georgia in March 2022 accounted for 8 percent, while over the same period of 2019 it accounted for 23 percent.
Meanwhile, the share of Georgia’s neighboring countries in the total visitor inflow accounted for 54 percent, which is a noticeable decrease, compared to March 2019 (74 percent). Turkey remained the main country of origin for visitor inflow in Georgia in the reporting period of 2022 - 23-percent share, followed by Russia (12 percent), and Armenia (12 percent).
The recovery also slowed down among the non-neighboring countries due to the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine that made visitors reconsider their trips to Georgia, TBC Capital said. According to the statistics, Israel remained the leader among non-neighboring countries (7-percent share), followed by the EU and the UK accounting for 6-percent share together, and Middle East countries (4-percent share).
“The impact of the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine on the source markets of Georgia was not as drastic as expected in the beginning of March. So far, the actual recovery of international visitor trips over three months is in line with the TBC Capital's projections,” the report said.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @mariiiakhm