TBILISI/APRIL 8 2024 (The Bulletin) — Georgia plans to build a new international airport five times the size of the current one as it bets big on a tourism bonanza.

Irakli Kobakhidze, Georgia’s PM, announced the plan to spend $1.26b building a new airport at Vazinani, 20km to the east of Tbilisi.

“The design and tender procedures will be completed next year, and in a few years, the country will have a completely new, state-of-the-art airport,” he said.

The new airport will be the largest in the Central Asia and South Caucasus region and highlights Georgia’s position as the region’s tourist hotspot. 

This year the Georgian authorities hope to attract more than 5m tourists, second only to Uzbekistan in the Central Asia and South Caucasus region which attracted more than 6m tourists last year. Uzbekistan has just built a new airport at Samarkand. 

Mr Kobakhidze said the new Tbilisi airport will handle up to 19m passengers per year, compared to roughly 4m at the current airport.

He said that the government had ruled out expanding the current airport because its capacity was limited to 15m people. “There would be no further development prospects,” he said.

Georgia has been trying to keep up with a surge in demand for tourism from Europe and the Middle East as well as demands from business to act as an Asia-EU transit hub. 

This year, new direct routes from Britain to Georgia have opened, although most of the growth has come from routes into and out of the Middle East, where Georgia is marketed as an accessible European holiday destination.

As well as Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi have international airports.

ENDS

— This story was published in issue 564 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 15 2024

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024