ISET second year students continued their series of policy seminars, this time focusing on the Georgian tourism sector. Shako Gobronidze, Diana Nersisyan, Robizon Razamadze, and Revaz Surguladze presented on the topic of seasonality, which both poses various challenges and grants opportunities for the Georgian tourism sector.

Seasonality affects the development of the tourism sector in several ways. By concentrating income generation within a limited timeframe, it creates a degree of uncertainty for investors, which could deter efforts to attract investments, especially for small tourism startups. Uneven demand due to seasonality also affects other businesses and sectors in the tourism supply chain, such as taxis, hotels, distribution, and agriculture. Finally, seasonality lowers the quality of service in the tourism sector, by giving fewer incentives to employers to train their staff or search for the best talent.

The policy team made several recommendations for tourism practices to address the issue of seasonality. Georgia can leverage its historical and architectural wealth to develop its MICE and niche tourism offerings; such recommendations are in accordance with the National Tourism Strategy of Georgia, which focuses on tourist quality over quantity. Additional recommendations were also made, such as the adoption of partnerships between tourism businesses operating in different seasons (such as ski and beach resorts) to provide year-round employment to talented tourism employees.