Page 50 - GEORptAug22

$49mn on purchase of 44 new metro cars
Georgia increased re-export of cars to Kyrgyzstan
capital Tbilisi’s metro system, at a cost of $49.2mn.
Tbilisi City Hall is working on the project with specialists from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
“Tbilisi Metro will have eight new metro cars by 2022, while the remaining 36 will be purchased by 2024,” Tbilisi City Hall said.
Guramishvili, Station Square, Sarajishvili, Marjanishvili, Freedom Square, 300 Aragveli, Rustaveli, Isani, Tsereteli, and Nadzaladevi metro stations will also be renovated with the support of the EBRD.
A contract for the renovation of Gotsiridze metro station was also reportedly signed with LTD Mamisoni on November 11. Renovations will be finished in about half a year.
In November, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a new €101mn loan for improving infrastructure in Georgia. Included in plans for this funding were upgrades to Tbilisi’s municipal metro system, possibly involving new metro cars among other measures.
Georgia increased its re-export value of cars shipped to Kyrgyzstan in 1H22, Trend reported on July 26, citing the Georgian National Statistical
Office. Re-export of cars from Georgia to Kyrgyzstan in the first six months of this year amounted to $8.7mn, representing an increase of 81.2% y/y. Georgia re-exported 1,525 cars to Kyrgyzstan, compared to 536 cars in 1H21. Meanwhile, the total value of Georgia's re-exported cars in 1H22 totalled $191mn, marking a decrease of 6.8% y/y (the figure was $205mn in 1H21).
9.1.5 Tourism sector news
Tourism revenues in Georgia hit 78.5% of 2019 level in 1H
Total international tourism revenues in Georgia surged by 281% y/y to $1.1bn in the first half of this year, reaching 78.5% of the revenues recorded in the same period of pre-pandemic year 2019, according to Galt & Taggart’s Tourism Market Watch report.
The recovery ratio dropped to 89% in June (compared to 36% in June 2021) from 96% in May.
Notably, the international tourism revenues were recovering in comparison to the pre-Covid period faster than the tourist arrivals - which reached, in 1H this year, only 64.1% of 1H19 arrivals. This was partly because prices, including for accommodation, were higher compared to 2019. In turn, this slightly diluted the convergence of tourism revenues with the GDP ratio, which will probably remain well below 18% in full-year 2022.
The international tourism revenues to GDP ratio was around 18% in 2018-2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it plunged to 3.4% in 2020 and 6.4% in 2021.
Nearly a fifth of international tourism revenues (19.1%) were generated by Russian tourists, followed by revenues generated by tourists from Belarus (10.7%), the EU (10.6%), Turkey (9.5%) and Ukraine (9.5%). The figures also capture the impact of migrants arriving in Georgia following the strart of the Ukraine war in late February, Galt & Taggart noted.
Russia accounted for 22.7% of tourism revenues and 23.3% of tourist arrivals in June.
Galt & Taggart estimated that around 80,000-120,000 visitors (from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine) relocated to Georgia for a longer term than regular tourists after the war began.
50 GEORGIA Country Report August 2022 www.intellinews.com