A fascinating mountain region at the border to Chechnya, Khevsureti is quite isolated. According to a 2006 report by the Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus, annual household incomes in the Shatili district of Khevsureti are: 70-80 kg of melted butter, half of which is family consumed and half sold. Income is 175 – 200 Euro.
Judging by the number of foreigners entering Georgia since 2004, tourism expanded at a breathtaking average pace of 32% a year, nearly doubling every three years. A simple extrapolation suggests that in four more years, by 2015, Georgia may be receiving more than 5mln tourists per year.
According to Ivanishvili, who made his $5.5 billion fortune in the Russian banking and metals industries, such headline-grabbing purchases were part of a calculated business strategy -- opening a world-class art museum in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, that can do battle with New York City’s Solomon R. Guggenheim museum and other prominent modern art centers.