TBILISI MONEY FLOW
Tbilisi’s branded hotels recovered to 60% occupancy in 9M25 while average rates slipped 6% to $85 under years of new supply; Georgia’s room stock has grown 1.5 times since 2019, and growth is now priced on wallet, not headcount.
The capital’s hotel paradox is arithmetic: high-spending tourists from Russia and the EU lifted branded occupancy to 60% in the first nine months of 2025 (from 55% a year earlier), and Q4 improved further to 58% against 48% — yet the average daily rate slipped 6% to $85, because every year of the boom added rooms. Georgia’s accommodation stock reached an estimated 52,500 rooms in 2025, 1.5 times the 2019 level; Tbilisi’s room count is now forecast to grow slower — 4.6% a year in 2026–29 against 6.2% in 2019–25 — which is the market quietly admitting the easy supply is built.
Georgia’s travel economy closed 2025 at $4.69 billion of international revenue (+6%), ₾15.0 billion in visitor spending; the average visit spent ₾2,467 in Q3. The geography of yield splits the country: Tbilisi monetises the record flows with full rooms at softening rates, while Batumi runs tighter supply and firmer pricing — 67% occupancy and a $103 ADR in 9M25 on Israeli and Middle Eastern demand. The next lever for the capital is mix, not volume: EU, Gulf, Indian and Chinese wallets are the guests who can hold the rate.
THE TIO READ
Tbilisi is the rare capital where the tourist boom already happened and the rate correction is the story. For buyers: shoulder months are mispriced — spring and autumn carry summer demand at softer tariffs. For owners: the pipeline discipline of 2026–29 decides whether $85 is a floor or a waypoint.
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