How Rising Travel Spending Reflects the Emergence of Georgia’s New Middle Class

In May 2025, one consumer trend in Georgia stood out sharply — the growing dominance of service-related spending, especially in travel and leisure. According to the latest TBC Capital Consumer Spending Tracker, card payments in the “entertainment and leisure” category rose by 33% year-over-year, while spending on travel-related services, including airline tickets, increased by 15% YoY. These figures outpaced many traditionally strong categories, such as furniture (-13% YoY) and home appliances (-8% YoY).

Dining out also surged: spending in restaurants, cafes, and bars jumped by 20% compared to May 2024. Together, these shifts paint a picture of consumers who are increasingly choosing experiences over goods — a hallmark behavior of a growing and confident middle class.

Notably, the data reveals a geographic divide: in Tbilisi, spending on entertainment grew by 36%, while in the regions the growth stood at approximately 27%. This suggests that Georgia’s emerging middle class is no longer concentrated solely in the capital.

GeoStat reports that average real wages in Georgia rose by 12% in 2024. When combined with the double-digit growth in service spending categories, the trend points to income gains being channeled not just into basic consumption, but into discretionary and aspirational purchases like travel and entertainment.

This is not uniquely Georgian. A 2023 report by McKinsey noted that millennials and Gen Z globally now spend nearly 60% more on services than physical goods, marking a generational shift in consumer priorities. Georgia appears to be following this global arc.

But questions remain. Could this increase in spending be partly debt-fueled? Data from the National Bank of Georgia indicates that consumer loan volume grew by 11% year-over-year in Q1 2025, hinting that some of the surge in lifestyle spending may not be backed by savings or income, but by short-term credit.

Still, the fact that May saw one of the strongest increases in leisure and travel-related transactions underscores a deeper shift: Georgia’s middle class is increasingly experience-driven, mobile, and confident.