The impact of tourism on the country’s sectoral economy in Georgia (by the example of food and beverage industry) (საქართველოში ტურიზმის ზეგავლენა ქვეყნის დარგობრივ ეკონომიკაზე (კვებისა და სასმელების ინდუსტრიის მაგალითზე))

Abstract

The tourism industry in Georgia is one of the leading sectors of the country’s economy. This is due to its high tourism potential as well as the country’s still emerging economy. It outlines the needs to research the rationalization of the tourism impact on the sectoral economy. In this regard, the food and beverage sector deserves special attention as the most important supplier of the tourism industry. The specific goal of our research is to reveal the expected impacts of the development of international tourism in Georgia on its food and beverage industry. For this we used the official statistics related to the expenditures of foreign tourists, including data on “food and beverage” (F&B) and “accommodations”. For the purpose of this research, we have modified the classification through the integration of the tourists’ expenditures on F&B with the share of expenditures spent by the accommodations on the same products. This adjustment exposed an additional over 70 million USD. The research was followed by the comparative analysis of the revealed F&B expenditures in relations to the domestic production and international trade balance of these products. The study revealed three main areas of expected influence: further promotion of export-oriented manufacturers; promotion of the import-substituting SME; and raising demand on imported items which are not and/or cannot be produced locally. The proposed general conclusion is the use of the tourism industry’s advantages for further promotion of underlined export-oriented sectors, as well as for supporting the import-substituting SME production. In the meantime, we consider it irrational to limit tourism development in order to reduce the import reliance of the country’s economy, as the challenge is not in the development of the tourism industry, but in the irrational use of its advantages.