Georgia in 2026: the tourism developments reshaping the country

The year Georgia’s infrastructure catches up with its ambition

For the past fifteen years, Georgia has been a destination that out-performed its infrastructure. Visitors arrived expecting rough roads and basic accommodation and found themselves captivated by a country whose hospitality and natural beauty routinely exceeded what the physical infrastructure suggested. 2026 is the year that equation begins to rebalance. A decade of heavy investment in roads, airports, hotels, and tourism facilities is starting to deliver in ways that change the practical shape of a Georgian trip.

This is a working inventory of the 2026 developments that matter to travellers. Some of these have opened; some are in final construction; all of them will reshape how Georgia is experienced across the next three to five years.

The Black Sea Arena and Shekvetili’s emergence

The Black Sea Arena — the 10,000-capacity concert venue on the Shekvetili coast — has operated since 2015, but its role as the anchor of a broader resort development has only become clear recently. The 2025 summer season saw the Arena host its largest international programme to date, with appearances from global headliners that previously would have passed Georgia entirely.

For 2026, the Shekvetili area continues to consolidate as an alternative to Batumi for Black Sea tourism. The Paragraph Resort and Spa (opened 2024) is joined by new operations in 2026 — the Radisson Blu Shekvetili and the Georgian-owned Hotel Shekvetili premium wing. The entire district now offers resort-quality accommodation with a quieter atmosphere than Batumi’s dense urban coastline.

The Black Sea Arena’s 2026 programme, announced in December 2025, includes 14 headline shows across May to September. For travellers planning summer trips, the possibility of combining a beach week with a major concert is a new proposition for Georgia.

Kutaisi airport expansion

Kutaisi International Airport — Wizz Air’s primary Caucasus base — has been overwhelmed by its own success since the late 2010s. The 2024 and 2025 passenger volumes comfortably exceeded the terminal’s design capacity.

Construction on a new passenger terminal began in late 2024. The expanded terminal is targeted for partial opening in Q3 2026, with full capacity tripling to roughly 4.5 million passengers per year. The new facility addresses the security queues, baggage handling, and parking limitations that have been the most common travel complaints at Kutaisi.

A new access road connecting the airport to the E60 expressway is also targeted for 2026 completion, reducing the Kutaisi-airport-to-central-city drive from 35 minutes to 20.

The practical implication: Wizz Air’s cheap-flights model into Georgia becomes even more attractive for 2026 travellers. Direct flights from 24 European cities (up from 19 in 2023) make Kutaisi the likely entry point for a significant share of European visitors.

Luxury hotels in Svaneti

Svaneti’s accommodation has been the weakest link in the high-end Georgian tourism offer for a decade. The region’s visitor volume has grown faster than the hotel infrastructure, with peak-season scarcity driving up prices at small guesthouses and leaving premium travellers with limited options.

2026 is the year this changes.

Rooms Hotel Svaneti (Mestia) opens in summer 2026. The Adjara Group property — 48 rooms, a substantial restaurant, a thermal spa — will be the largest premium hotel operation in the region. Rates targeted at 350 to 500 EUR per night in peak season.

Design Hotels Ushguli (the property name is provisional) opens in late 2026 as the first premium operation actually in Ushguli village rather than Mestia. 24 rooms in a conversion of three historic Svan stone-and-wood buildings. This property alone will transform visitor patterns in the upper Svaneti valleys.

Mazeri Boutique (smaller, 12 rooms) opens in summer 2026 in the Becho valley, complementing the handful of existing guesthouses with a full-service boutique operation.

For travellers planning Svaneti visits in 2026, these new properties substantially expand the options beyond the established guesthouse and mid-range hotel network. The Svaneti destination page and the Svaneti valleys blog cover the broader regional options.

Georgian wine: certification and the PDO framework

The Georgian wine industry is in a specific regulatory transition. After two decades of developing an export-market reputation, 2025 and 2026 see Georgia moving toward a more formal European-style designation framework.

Seventeen Georgian wine-producing regions have been granted Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the Georgian National Wine Agency. 2026 sees the practical implementation of the PDO regime, with restrictions on which grape varieties can be used for which designations, permitted vinification methods, and labelling requirements.

For travellers, the PDO framework means clearer information on wine labels and more reliable distinctions between the Georgian wine styles. The Kakhetian PDO (focusing on traditional qvevri winemaking with specified grape varieties), the Racha PDO (Khvanchkara and Tvishi), and the emerging Imeretian PDO are the ones most visible on winery visits.

New wine-tourism initiatives for 2026 include:

• The Kakheti Wine Route formalisation, with waymarked signage and a coordinated visitor programme across 45 wineries
• The Racha Wine Trail, opening the long-isolated Khvanchkara wine region to more systematic wine tourism
• A new wine-tourism information centre in Sighnaghi, scheduled to open in spring 2026

The Kakheti wine tours guide and the amber wine guide will be updated to reflect the new certifications as they take effect.

Military Highway: infrastructure and the Jvari tunnel

The Georgian Military Highway — the Tbilisi-Kazbegi-Russian border road — has been the most important mountain route in the Caucasus for two centuries and the most challenging to maintain. Weather closures of the Jvari Pass (2,379m summit) affect a substantial portion of the winter and early spring schedule each year.

The Jvari tunnel project — a 9-kilometre road tunnel bypassing the high pass — entered active construction in 2024 with targeted completion in 2028. For 2026, the tunnel is not yet operational, but several surface-road improvements will be completed: widened sections through the Dariali Gorge, additional avalanche protection galleries above Gudauri, and a new Ananuri bypass that will reduce congestion at one of the highway’s most-visited sites.

The practical implication: the Military Highway drive blog becomes more reliable year-round, with fewer closure events and shorter average closure durations. The Tbilisi-to-Kazbegi drive time stabilises at around 2.5 to 3 hours through 2026 and will drop to approximately 2 hours once the tunnel opens.

For 2026, plan as you would have in 2025 — flexibility around winter weather, overnight in Stepantsminda rather than Tbilisi day trips — but expect incremental improvements.

Book a private Kazbegi tour with GetYourGuide

New hiking routes

The Transcaucasian Trail (TCT) project continues to waymark and formalise long-distance trails across the Caucasus. For 2026, the TCT’s Georgian section sees two significant developments:

The Racha-Lechkhumi extension — a new 130-kilometre waymarked route through the northern highlands, connecting the existing Svaneti sections to the Tusheti trail network. Opening in phases through spring and summer 2026.

The Khevsureti loops — three new multi-day loop trails in the previously under-developed Khevsureti region, addressing the long-standing gap in organised trekking infrastructure east of the Military Highway.

Both developments include new or upgraded accommodation options — simple mountain huts, certified guesthouses along the routes — that make these trails accessible to hikers without the full camping kit. See the best hikes guide and the trekking itinerary for planning.

Ski infrastructure

The 2025-2026 ski season sees further development of the Georgian resort network:

Gudauri: the Kudebi III gondola (opened December 2025) extends the lift-served area to a new high point at 3,350m and dramatically improves access to the freeride terrain on the resort’s northern side.

Bakuriani: a new chairlift on the Kokhta side opens for the 2026 season, extending marked terrain and improving uplift capacity by roughly 30%.

Goderdzi (Adjara): targeted opening of new freeride-focused lift infrastructure for the 2026-2027 season, positioning Goderdzi as Georgia’s alternative freeride destination to Gudauri.

Svaneti (Tetnuldi and Hatsvali): no major lift expansion but significant investment in snowmaking and piste grooming, improving the reliability of the limited existing infrastructure.

The Gudauri ski resort guide, Gudauri ski season blog, and winter itinerary cover the practical detail for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 seasons.

Tbilisi: the urban programme

Tbilisi’s municipal programme for 2026 emphasises pedestrianisation, preservation, and the continued development of the creative quarters.

Old Tbilisi pedestrianisation: further extensions of the pedestrian-only zones in the old town, with new cobbled surfaces and traffic calming measures. The Betlemi Street restoration (2024-2025) has been judged successful and similar interventions are planned for several neighbouring streets.

The Fabrika expansion: Adjara Group’s flagship creative complex adds a second phase in 2026, doubling its café, studio, and retail footprint in the Marjanishvili district.

Heritage restoration: several significant heritage buildings on Rustaveli Avenue and in Sololaki are under active restoration with 2026 reopening dates, including the former Imperial Bank building (reopening as a boutique hotel) and the Melikashvili Mansion in Vera.

The numbers

Georgian tourism’s working projections for 2026, based on the Ministry of Economy’s forecasts and industry consensus:

• International visitor arrivals: 8.5-9 million (up from 7.4 million in 2024, 7.9 million in 2025)
• Tourism revenue: 4.8 billion USD (up from approximately 4.1 billion in 2024)
• Direct tourism employment: approximately 220,000 full-time equivalents
• Hotel room supply increase: approximately 11% in the four-star-and-above segment

These numbers tell a consistent story: Georgia is approaching the scale of a medium-sized European tourism economy (broadly comparable to Croatia or Portugal by visitor volume, if not yet by revenue).

The implications for travellers

The 2026 picture is, for most travellers, positive. New hotels fill capacity gaps. New flights open new entry options. New trails extend the hiking programme. Wine certification clarifies what has been a confusing market.

The risks are around pricing and scarcity. Peak-season accommodation in the most-visited regions books out earlier each year. Flights with Wizz Air and Turkish Airlines sell out six months ahead for peak weeks. Premium hotels are increasing prices faster than general inflation.

The practical response is the same as it has been for several years: book early for peak season, consider shoulder-season travel, build longer trips that cover more than the most-visited regions, and take advantage of the genuinely improved infrastructure to reach destinations that were harder to visit five years ago.

The plan your trip guide covers the practical planning workflow. The 14-day itinerary remains the core framework; for travellers visiting for the second or third time, the 21-day itinerary builds around the less-visited regions.

What this adds up to

Georgia’s 2026 is not a reinvention. The country’s core attractions — the food, the wine, the mountains, the hospitality — remain exactly what they have been. What is changing is that the infrastructure around these attractions is approaching the standard that visitors from developed tourism markets expect.

This is a specific window. Georgia has the new hotels without yet having the crowds of Croatia or Portugal; it has the developed flight network without yet having lost the character of its destinations; it has the improved roads without yet having over-developed the mountain valleys they lead to. The balance between accessibility and authenticity is about as good as it has ever been.

For travellers considering whether 2026 is the right year for a first Georgia visit, the answer is straightforward: yes. For travellers considering a second or third visit, there is genuinely new ground to cover.