What's new in Georgia 2025: flights, hotels, visas, and where to look

The year Georgia stopped being a discovery

Georgia’s tourism trajectory in 2025 is no longer the story of a hidden destination opening up. It is the story of a mid-weight international tourism economy absorbing record visitor numbers, opening premium hotels at pace, gaining direct flight connectivity to airports that previously required a connection, and deciding what kind of tourism industry it wants to be.

Here is a working inventory of what has changed since early 2024, with practical implications for travellers planning a 2025 trip.

Visitor numbers and the shape of the industry

Georgia received 7.4 million international visitors in 2024 — the highest in its history and roughly 14% above the 2019 pre-pandemic peak. Roughly 45% of visitors came from neighbouring countries (Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan) with the remaining 55% from the broader international market, up sharply from the 2019 split.

The European visitor base has grown fastest. Germans, Poles, British, French, and Italian visitors all increased double-digit percentages year-on-year. The Middle Eastern market, particularly UAE and Saudi Arabia, has grown in tandem.

Tourism now accounts for close to 9% of Georgian GDP. The industry is the single largest employer in Tbilisi, Kazbegi, and Batumi.

For travellers, the practical effect is that peak-season capacity at premium accommodation is tight. Peak weeks at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, the Stamba and Rooms hotels in Tbilisi, and the Paragraph Freedom Square book out six to nine months ahead. Shoulder seasons remain open longer.

New direct flights

The 2024–2025 winter season brought a series of new and expanded routes:

Vienna (OS) daily — Austrian Airlines upgraded to daily seasonal service in late 2024. The only direct Vienna–Tbilisi connection and a significant boost for the Central European market.

Berlin (LH) five times weekly — Lufthansa expanded from four to five weekly flights with upgraded aircraft, absorbing the German demand that had been routing through Istanbul.

Milan (W6) three times weekly — Wizz Air added Milan Malpensa to Tbilisi in October 2024, a long-requested route that makes the Italian market viable for weekend visits.

Paris (W6) daily — Wizz Air expanded Paris Beauvais to Tbilisi to daily frequency.

Dubai (FZ, EK) combined daily — Flydubai and Emirates together now operate more than daily Dubai–Tbilisi service, with the capacity to absorb the growing UAE market.

New: Riyadh (SV) twice weekly — Saudia launched Riyadh–Tbilisi twice weekly from December 2024, the first scheduled Saudi service.

Turkish Airlines remains the single largest carrier with six daily Istanbul–Tbilisi flights and a network of onward connections. Turkish routes now account for roughly 25% of all international arrivals.

Kutaisi’s second airport continues to grow. Wizz Air’s base at Kutaisi serves 22 European cities with cheap point-to-point flights, now with new routes from Abu Dhabi, Stockholm, and Copenhagen added in 2024.

New hotels

Radisson Collection Tskaltubo

The long-awaited Radisson Collection Hotel Tskaltubo finally opened to guests in late 2024 after multiple delays. The property — a Soviet-era sanatorium rebuilt to international standards — is the first international-brand hotel in the Tskaltubo spa town and the anchor of the broader regeneration of the district.

The hotel includes a full thermal spa using the region’s radon-mineral waters, 156 rooms in the restored heritage wing, and a modern restaurant and bar programme. Room rates run from 250 EUR per night, aggressive for the regional market but reasonable for the amenity on offer. The property is three hours from Tbilisi and 90 minutes from Kutaisi airport.

Stamba Hotel annex and Paragraph Resort and Spa

Adjara Group, which operates Rooms Hotels, Stamba Hotel, Fabrika, and Paragraph Freedom Square, opened a new annex extension to the Stamba complex in spring 2024, adding 40 rooms, a new rooftop bar, and an expanded pool. The Stamba remains the design-hotel benchmark in Tbilisi.

Paragraph Resort and Spa in Shekvetili (Black Sea coast) opened in summer 2024. A 120-room premium beach resort with pine-forest setting, thermal spa, and three restaurants. Pricing at 300 EUR per night in peak season. The property addresses a long-standing gap in the Georgian Black Sea market between budget Batumi hotels and small boutique guesthouses.

Tskaltubo Marriott and Anantara plans

Marriott has announced a property in the refurbished Sanatorium Medea building in Tskaltubo, targeting late 2025 opening. Anantara has signed a development agreement for a resort in the Kakheti wine country (Tsinandali region), with construction underway and opening targeted for 2026.

The high-end hotel pipeline for Georgia for 2025–2026 is the most extensive in the country’s history.

Svaneti and Kazbegi

Rooms Hotel Svaneti (Mestia) and a new Design Hotels member in Ushguli are both in advanced planning. Neither will open in 2025. Existing premium accommodation in Svaneti (Hotel Tetnuldi, Posta Hotel, several high-end guesthouses) handles demand, but with difficulty in peak season.

Kazbegi saw two new premium boutique guesthouses open in 2024 in the villages of Sno and Juta, reflecting the market’s shift toward smaller non-chain properties in the region.

Visa and entry

Georgia’s visa-free policy remains exceptionally generous: 365-day visa-free entry for citizens of 98 countries, including all EU member states, the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Gulf states. No application, no fee, no advance documentation required.

Minor administrative changes for 2025:

• Electronic entry records have been upgraded to integrate with European border systems
• The e-visa online system (relevant for the roughly 50 non-visa-free nationalities) has been streamlined to a 24-hour turnaround in most cases
• The new “Remotely from Georgia” digital nomad programme launched in 2020 continues with minor modifications; see the digital nomad guide for details

Customs limits (two bottles of wine, or four litres if over 18 — typically not enforced strictly for personal amounts) remain in place.

New wine region openings

The Georgian wine sector continues to invest heavily in hospitality infrastructure.

Chateau Mere in Kakheti opened a new restaurant and expanded cellar door in summer 2024.

Vino Underground’s Tbilisi flagship is under expansion into a full wine education and tasting complex in the Vera district, opening staged through 2025.

Okros Winery in Sighnaghi opened a new boutique hotel and restaurant in August 2024 — 12 rooms in a restored 19th-century building with the winery operation in the rear courtyard.

Bagrationi 1882 (the primary sparkling wine producer) opened a visitor centre in 2024 with tours, tastings, and a formal restaurant — the first major sparkling wine tourism offering in Georgia.

The western regions are where the most interesting new openings are happening. Racha (the Khvanchkara region) saw three new small wineries open cellar doors in 2024, reflecting the slow but determined opening of Racha to wine tourism. See the Kakheti wine tours guide and the amber wine guide for current operators.

New ski infrastructure

Gudauri added a new gondola in the 2024–2025 season — the Kudebi II upgrade, which improves uplift capacity on the resort’s highest lift by roughly 40%. The resort’s total lift capacity has increased by approximately 25% in the last three years.

Bakuriani has benefited from the post-2023 Freestyle Ski World Championships infrastructure. New chairlifts on the Kokhta side, upgraded snowmaking covering 60% of the main pistes, and a refreshed resort base opened for the 2024–2025 season.

Tetnuldi (Svaneti) added a new ski school operation and limited expansion of marked piste. Hatsvali (also Svaneti) remains unchanged. Goderdzi (Adjara, high-altitude freeride) is the resort most active in terms of new runs and planning a significant capacity expansion for 2026.

For skiers, the 2024–2025 season is the most substantial infrastructure year in Georgian skiing in a decade. See the Gudauri ski resort guide and Gudauri ski season blog for further detail.

Road and transport upgrades

The Tbilisi–Batumi expressway continues in phased construction. The Kobuleti bypass opened in late 2024, shaving roughly 30 minutes off the Tbilisi–Batumi drive. The complete expressway is targeted for 2026 completion.

The Tbilisi–Kutaisi expressway section between Mtskheta and Gori opened to full capacity in 2024. The Tbilisi–Kutaisi drive is now consistently under three hours in normal traffic.

The Georgian Military Highway tunnelling project (a 9-kilometre tunnel to replace the Jvari Pass crossing) is in preliminary construction phase with targeted 2028 completion. Until then, the existing Military Highway remains seasonal-variable — the guide to driving the Military Highway covers current conditions.

Georgian Railways continues to operate the Tbilisi–Batumi express service with upgraded rolling stock. Sleeper service to Zugdidi (for onward Svaneti transfer) remains popular for travellers who want to skip the 10-hour road journey.

Currency and cost

The Georgian lari remained relatively stable against the US dollar and euro through 2024. As of January 2025, roughly 2.8 GEL to 1 USD and 2.9 GEL to 1 EUR.

Domestic inflation ran at roughly 3% through 2024. Tbilisi restaurant prices and mid-range hotel rates increased by roughly 8% year-on-year; budget and backpacker pricing is broadly stable. The country remains significantly cheaper than Western Europe across all price segments.

Practical implications for 2025 travel

Book early for peak season: May–June and September–October are the peak windows. Key properties book six to nine months ahead.

Consider Kutaisi for arrivals: The Wizz Air network via Kutaisi continues to be the cheapest way into Georgia from much of Europe. The airport is a 30-minute drive from western Georgia’s key sites.

Consider the new hotels: The Radisson Tskaltubo and Paragraph Shekvetili both offer experiences that did not exist a year ago. For travellers planning a fourth or fifth visit to Georgia, these are worth the visit.

The 14-day itinerary is still the right framework: Despite new openings, the core Georgian experience — Tbilisi, Kakheti, Kazbegi, Svaneti, Samegrelo — rewards at least two weeks. The 14-day itinerary remains a tested structure.

Book a Tbilisi day tour with GetYourGuide

What has not changed

The hospitality. The food. The specifically Georgian quality of being welcomed into a country that does not treat tourism as a primary characteristic. Despite the new hotels, the new flights, and the record numbers, the experience of arriving in Georgia for the first time in 2025 remains recognisably the experience that visitors in 2015 had.

The country is getting easier to access without yet becoming a different country.