TBILISI, October 21 – Georgia’s tourism revenue rose 6.5% in the third quarter of 2025, reaching USD 1.67 billion, according to the country’s central bank. But behind the headline figure lies a growing distortion: many of the biggest spenders are no longer tourists at all, BPN reports.
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) reported that 28.1%, or nearly one in four, Russians currently in Georgia now qualify as residents under international accounting rules. The same applies to 22.7% of Belarusians and 20.3% of Ukrainians. In practice, this means they have lived in the country for more than a year or intend to do so, and their spending is therefore excluded from Georgia’s official tourism income under IMF methodology.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Georgia has become a key destination for citizens of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus seeking stability, safety, or simply a place to live and work outside their home countries. Many have opened businesses, rented long-term housing, or joined Georgia’s rapidly growing tech and service sectors.
Even so, the inflow of long-term visitors continues to shape Georgia’s economy, and complicate its statistics. Russians remain the single largest source of tourism-related spending, contributing USD 252.2 million in the last quarter alone, despite a 14.2% drop from a year earlier.
Spending by Ukrainian visitors rose 5.6% to USD 44.9 million, while expenditures by Belarusians fell 5.3% to $36.9 million.
The numbers from the National Bank underline that even though Georgia’s tourism income continues to climb year-on-year, part of that growth comes from de facto residents rather than short-term travelers.
