Page 48 - GEORptMay20

Tourists ‘massively cancel spring hotel reservations in Tbilisi in response to COVID-19 anxieties’
Looking only at the direct contribution of the tourism sector to GDP, the largest share is in Montenegro (11%), followed by Croatia (10.9) and Georgia (9.3%). In countries where tourism makes up a large share of GDP, governments have sought to target the industry specifically as they draw up economic stimulus plans to try to mitigate the fallout from the pandemic.
In Croatia, for example, the stimulus package worth around €4bn approved earlier this month includes measures to support companies in the tourism industry as well as those aimed at the economy as a whole. Under Georgia’s stimulus package all enterprises linked to the tourism sector will be granted income and property tax breaks until November 1, while a refund of value-added tax (VAT) for companies would be doubled to GEL1.2bn ($347mn) from GEL600mn. Individuals and tourism-related companies could be permitted to defer interest payments on bank loans for four months.
Tourists have massively cancelled spring hotel reservations in Georgian capital Tbilisi because of the coronavirus outbreak, head of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Georgia, Shalva Alaverdashvili, has said, according to Trend news agency reports citing Georgian media. Georgia's tourism industry is already dealing with the impact of a flight ban announced by Russia last July in retaliation for anti-Kremlin demonstrations in Tbilisi and aggressive anti-Moscow sentiments expressed on air by a television presenter.
According to Alaverdashvili, March should be the month when the tourist flow to Georgia picks up in earnest. He added that many customers were demanding the return of their money on pre-paid reservations, something which he said was not possible.
The association concluded that the Georgian tourism industry was on the
48​ GEORGIA Country Report ​May 2020 ​​www.intellinews.com