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GEORGIA’S PROSPECTS IN THE GLOBAL MARKET OF TOURIST SERVICES
Larisa KORGANASHVILI
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University,
Tbilisi, Georgia.
Abstract
Georgia is the country with small economy, which in the post-soviet period endured deep political and
economic crisis, and underwent through the serious social-economic transformation. If in 1990 GDP structure
of Georgia constituted of the share of the Agriculture with 31.7%, of the Industry with 33.1% and of the
Services with 35.2 %, in 2014 those indicators were 9.2%, 24.4% and 66.4% accordingly. Among the services
the significant position is held by the tourism. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council in 2014, the
direct contribution of travel and tourism in Georgia amounted GEL1,726.4mn (5.9% of total GDP), the total
contribution was GEL5,867.6mn (20.0% of GDP).
Almost all countries in the world are offering their services in global tourism market now. Each of them has its
own specific way and contributes to the diversity of motivations for tourists, to the differentiation of supply
and demand, to the formation of various segments and niches of the market. In this regard, the Georgian
tourism is developing in the face of fierce competition.
In recent years, tourism is seen as a priority sector, which should provide Georgia's economic growth, create
new jobs, reduce poverty, develop small businesses, etc. The priority of tourism for Georgia is due to the rich
tourist potential on the one hand and due to its multiplier effect on the other hand. Due to this, the tendencies
and prospects of the development of international tourism in Georgia are considered in the paper, also the
main problems are identified and suggested the ways to solve them, relative advantages of the existing tourist
potential are shown, the implementation of which will allow Georgia to take a worthy place in the global
market of tourist services.
The methodological basis of the work constitutes of well-known scientific methods: statistical, comparative,
analysis and synthesis, SWOT analysis, graphical interpretation, and etc.
Keywords: tourism, tourist potential, economy, development, competitiveness, Georgia.
Introduction
In recent years, importance of international tourism in the global economy as well as in
socio-economic development of different countries is growing. International tourist arrivals
grew by 4.4% in 2015 to reach a total of 1,184 million in 2015, according to the latest
UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Some 50 million more tourists (overnight visitors)
travelled to international destinations around the world last year as compared to
2014. 2015 marks the 6th consecutive year of above-average growth, with international
arrivals increasing by 4% or more every year since the post-crisis year of 2010 (Press
Release, 2016).
The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP was USD2,364.8 bn (3.1% of total GDP)
in 2014, and the total contribution - USD7,580.9bn (9.8% of GDP). Travel & Tourism directly
supported 105,408,000 jobs (3.6% of total employment) and the total contribution of Travel
& Tourism to employment, including jobs indirectly supported by the industry, was 9.4% of
total employment (276,845,000 jobs). Visitor exports generated USD1,383.8bn (5.7% of
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