One-year tax debt of tourism sector in Georgia written off

Small and medium business entities operating in the tourism sector in Georgia have been exempted from property tax for 2021, Report informs, citing the Ministry of Finance of Georgia.

the exemption will apply to over 1,200 taxpayers, and the amount of tax liability that will be eliminated is about 40 million Georgian lari (about $13 million).

The ministry said that this decision would have a stimulating effect on small and medium-sized businesses in the context of economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic - in 2019, Georgian tourism was developing rapidly, the number of international visitors reached a record level (more than 9.3 million people). In 2020, due to the lockdown, the number of visitors decreased to 1.7 million people, and in 2021, the number was equal to 1.6 million.

The amount of income from tourism was 427.7 million in 2020 and $1.2 billion in 2021, while this figure was $3.3 billion in 2019.