The FINANCIAL–American tourist Steven Brooks spent ten days in Georgia. Brooks and two of his friends visited the Georgian regions Kakheti, Kazbegi, Vardzia and Svaneti.
“I like Georgia. But before coming here I knew only a little about the country,” Brooks said. “My friend is an English language teacher in Georgia and he advised me to visit the country.”
“I love the Georgian nature; the gorgeous mountains in Svaneti, especially the Mountain Ushba. I love the local people. They are so hospitable. Some Georgian traditions seem strange to me, but it’s exotic. For example they always ask me to drink wine or vodka with them and expect me to say toasts. I like Georgian drinks, but in America we say about 10 toasts throughout the whole year while Georgians say 10 or more toasts during one sitting. I would advise everyone to visit Georgia. It will be an unforgettable trip.”
America is in the top ten countries, from where the biggest amount of visitors arrive in Georgia. In the 10 months of 2011 more than 21,000 American visitors crossed the Georgian border according to the data of the Georgian National Tourism Agency (GNTA). This number has increased 21 times in comparison to the same period of 2010. In total Georgia received 20,000 visitors in 2010.
According to GNTA in the first 9 months of 2011 the number of visitors totalled up to 2,068,147, which is 43 percent more than it was in the same period of 2010. In the first 9 months of 2010 Georgia received 1,446,300 visitors.
“America is one of the best developing tourist markets for Georgia, where interest in our country is constantly growing,” Beka Jakeli, Deputy Chairman of GNTA, told The FINANCIAL. “We have our special target market including the USA, where we implement more marketing campaigns. Apart from the number of tourists, the money they spend in Georgia is very important for us. American tourists spend more money in the country than tourists from countries located near Georgia or our neighbouring ones. That’s why we spend so much attention on attracting more and more American tourists.”
“We have our tools for attracting more American tourists. We cooperate with American tour-operators; arrange special info tours for them and representatives of the American media as well. We support local tour-operators in becoming more active on the American market. Our advertisements on international channels popularize Georgia as a tourism destination country as well as an attractive investment country,” Jakeli stated.
According to Jakeli, Americans are mostly interested in cultural and adventure tours across Georgia. Many of them prefer hiking in the different regions of Georgia. The most popular regions among Americans are Svaneti, Kakheti and Mtskheta-Mtianeti.
“We receive many individual tourists from the USA as well as large, well-organized groups of tourists,” Jakeli said.
This year GNTA participated in the exhibition of “Miami Cruise Shipping” in Miami. The agency started Georgia’s popularization as an attractive country for cruises.
“We presented all our cruise opportunities for the first time in Miami. Batumi Port has the possibility to receive quite a large number of cruises. So we want to develop cruise tourism is Georgia as well,” Jakeli added.
Caucasus Travel, one of the travel agencies in Georgia, agrees that the number of American tourists is increasing.
“Visitors from neighbour countries are mostly driving in to the country by car and therefore don’t require our service. In comparison to other foreign countries’ visitors who arrive in Georgia by airplane, the number of Americans isn’t low, moreover it actually surpasses that of many countries. Of course the more the better, and it could be more, but for the moment I think it’s a satisfactory number,” said Maia Qatashvili, Manager of Caucasus Travel.
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