Tbilisi (GBC) - According to Galt & Taggart’s weekly review, tourism revenues in June 2026 increased by 6.3% year-on-year to $485 million.

Despite the positive dynamics in June, a slight decline is recorded in the tourism sector in the first half of this year. In particular, in the first half of 2026, tourism receipts totaled $2 billion, which is 0.2% less than in the same period last year.

As for expectations, according to the investment bank’s forecast, the sector will return to growth - tourism revenues will reach $4.9 billion in 2026, and $5.3 billion by 2027.

The review also focuses on official statistics from the National Bank of Georgia. According to the National Bank, in June 2026, official international reserves increased by 51.9% year-on-year and reached a new record level of $7.1 billion.

Compared to the previous month (May), reserves increased by 1.7% in June, which means an increase of $115.8 million in absolute terms.

“The change in reserves is related to foreign exchange operations of the government and/or the banking sector, as well as the purchase of foreign exchange by the NBG using the BMatch platform (information will be available on July 27). It is worth noting that as of June 2026, monetary gold accounts for 14.2% of total international reserves,” the Galt & Taggart review states.