Management and Economics
| Open Access |
DOI: Reducing Seasonality in Inbound Tourism through Off-Season Programs and Itineraries
Ekaterine Jikidze , Director, Guide of Georgia LLC. MBA Webster University Georgia Tbilisi, GeorgiaAbstract
The article examines the problem of smoothing seasonal fluctuations in inbound tourism through the design and implementation of specialized off-season programs and itineraries. The relevance of the study derives from the fact that the temporal concentration of tourist flows intensifies the phenomenon of overtourism, undermining the economic resilience, social well-being, and ecological balance of destinations. This paper attempts a critical analysis of desezonalization strategies in the cases of Cyprus, Malta, and Georgia by extracting some universal factors that guarantee success. The novelty introduced here is by making a comparison between mature and developing destinations through their market structure, stakeholder coordination capacity prism, and an application of big-data analytics to air accessibility management. In methodology, it undertakes a systematic literature review. It processes official statistics on tourist arrivals for the years 2017 and 2023, in addition to comparing national strategic documents on product diversification, market development, transport infrastructure, and institutional governance. The main findings are: (1) without a paradigmatic shift from quantitative growth to higher revenue per tourist and quality of experience, formal diversification of supply does not work, (2) in mature destinations, political will and an embedded mechanism of inter-agency coordination decide, as evidenced by Malta that reduced the seasonality coefficient to 1.53, (3) developing markets can rapidly curb seasonality when they depend on data-based expansion of air networks and targeting market with reverse seasonality as demonstrated by Georgia, and finally (4) key barrier still lies within the implementation gap manifested through business model inertia and insufficient incentive for year-round operation. On this basis, a cyclical model of seasonality management is proposed, integrating long-term strategic planning, big-data analytics, and public–private partnership. The article will be helpful to researchers of sustainable tourism, designers of national and regional strategies, and destination marketing practitioners seeking to reduce seasonal dependence.
Keywords
tourism seasonality, overtourism, sustainable tourism, diversification of the tourism product, event tourism
References
Alsharif, A. H., Isa, S. M., Aziz, N. A., & Murad, A. (2025). Exploring the Nexus of Over-Tourism: Causes, Consequences, and Mitigation Strategies. Journal of Tourism and Services, 16(30), 99–142. https://doi.org/10.29036/fx6nef49
Berjozkina, G. (2022). Tourism seasonality in small island developing states: evidence from Cyprus. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 14(5), 441–450. https://doi.org/10.1108/whatt-07-2022-0084
Bisht, A., Kumar, H., Nag, A., & Kumar, V. (2025). Managing Seasonality and Overtourism for Sustainable Tourism Development: Challenges and Strategies. International Journal of Research and Review, 12(3), 443–453. https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20250355
Cyprus Police. (2024, January 17). Tourist arrivals and returns of residents of Cyprus from trips abroad: December 2023. Government of Cyprus. https://www.gov.cy/en/economy-and-finance/tourist-arrivals-and-returns-of-residents-of-cyprus-from-trips-abroad-december-2023/
Garanti, Z., & Berjozkina, G. (2022). Reducing the impacts of tourism seasonality in the small island state of Cyprus. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 14(5), 501–504. https://doi.org/10.1108/whatt-07-2022-0085
Georgia Today. (2025, March 11). How Ekaterine Jikidze’s Guide to Georgia is Transforming the Travel Industry. Georgia Today. https://georgiatoday.ge/how-ekaterine-jikidzes-guide-of-georgia-is-transforming-the-travel-industry/
GeoStat. (2018). Inbound Tourism Statistics in Georgia. GeoStat. https://www.geostat.ge/media/19869/Press-Release-2017-ENG.pdf
Gkarane, S. K., Vassiliadis, C. A., Kotzaivazoglou, I., Fragidis, G., & Vrana, V. (2025). Mitigating Seasonality in Regional Tourism: Tourism Practitioners’ Reflections on Sport Events. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389047774_Mitigating_Seasonality_in_Regional_Tourism_Tourism_Practitioners'_Reflections_on_Sport_Events
Government of Malta. (2021). Malta Tourism Strategy 2021-2030. Government of Malta. https://tourism.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/National-Tourism-Strategy-2021-2030.pdf
GRA. (n.d.). Ekaterine Jikidze Wins 2024 Global Recognition Award. GRA. Retrieved August 1, 2025, from https://globalrecognitionawards.org/winners/2024/ekaterine-jikidze-wins-2024-global-recognition-award/
Karyopouli, S., & Koutra, C. (2012). Cyprus as a Winter Destination: An Exploratory Study. Tourism Analysis, 17(4), 495–508. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272204582_Cyprus_as_a_Winter_Destination_An_Exploratory_Study
Kuyalis, N. (2017). The VNR in a Nutshell – National Strategies for SDGs. https://tourism4sdgs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Cyprus_CountryFiche.pdf
Low Season Traveller. (n.d.). Malta. Low Season Traveller. Retrieved August 10, 2025, from https://lowseasontraveller.com/destination/malta/
Mabrian. (n.d.). Georgian National Tourism Administration. Mabrian. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from https://mabrian.com/success-story/georgian-national-tourism-administration/
Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. (2023). Georgian Tourism in Figures. Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. https://api.gnta.ge/storage/files/doc/eng%281%29.pdf
MTA. (2019, February 5). Sustaining Success – Another Record Year for Tourism in Malta. Malta Tourism Authority. https://www.mta.com.mt/en/file.aspx?f=31678
MTA. (2022). Facts and Figures. Malta Tourism Authority. https://www.mta.com.mt/en/file.aspx?f=34960
NSO Malta. (2018, February). NSO Malta. https://nso.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/News2018_016.pdf
Orphanides, S. (2018, January 17). Tourist arrivals rise 15% in 2017 to a new record. Cyprus Mail. https://archive.cyprus-mail.com/2018/01/17/tourist-arrivals-rise-15-2017-new-record/
Public Service of Malta. (2025, July 4). MTA Drives Tourism Growth with Major Summer Events and Quality Focus. Public Service of Malta. https://publicservice.gov.mt/en/news/mta-drives-tourism-growth-with-major-summer-events-and-quality-focus
Zvaigzne, A., Litavniece, L., & Dembovska, I. (2022). Tourism seasonality: the causes and effects. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 14(5), 421–430. https://doi.org/10.1108/whatt-07-2022-0080
Article Statistics
Copyright License
Copyright (c) 2025 Ekaterine Jikidze
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright of their manuscripts, and all Open Access articles are disseminated under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC-BY), which licenses unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is appropriately cited. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations.