The FINANCIAL — Caucasus Travel, incoming tour operator in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, is continuing to offer cultural, adventurous and tailor-made tours for groups as well as individual travellers.
Caucasus Travel has been a leading incoming tour operator since 1991. Today, Caucasus Travel is the company of choice for more than 200 tour operators, travel agencies, incentive houses, conference organisers and professional associations all over the world.
The company offers all-inclusive tours: cultural; adventure; religious; photography and filming; ecological; wildlife; scientific expeditions; youth camps; 4X4 Jeep Safari; agricultural; wine tours, etc.
At the same time, Caucasus Travel is diverse in terms of its services. Cruises, Business Travel Assistance & FIT services offer hotel reservation, guide service, car rental, technical assistance, and Management of Incentive Groups.
After successful completion of the year 2017, for which Caucasus Travel won a Golden Brand Award for the third time, the company started the year 2018 with high expectations.
“The principle of our company is and always was the popularisation of our country and demonstration of its best sides to the international arena. Also, we strive to offer high quality products to our clients. We constantly try to improve the quality and discover and develop new markets,” said Maia Kiknadze, Director of Caucasus Travel.
“High recognition of the company both on local as well as international markets, its positioning among customers, suppliers and industry stakeholders as a company of the highest quality service – this is very big achievement for us and this is a reason and one of the main indicators for naming us the number one company in our field in Georgia,” she added.
Q. Last year Caucasus Travel became an official representative of British concierge company ‘Quintessentially Group’ in Georgia and in the whole of the South Caucasus. Could you please summarise this one year’s cooperation?
A. We are proud that such a high class concierge service and lifestyle management company as Quintessentially Group is represented in our region and that it is Caucasus Travel that represents it.
Quintessentially Group’s entrance onto the Georgian market brought our country’s tourism as well as our company’s service to the highest level.
One year after entering Georgia we will open Quintessentially Group’s office in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku in June.
Q. How many tourists did Caucasus Travel host in 2017 and from which countries mainly?
A. About 10,000 tourists arrived in Georgia thanks to our company last year, which was about 10 percent growth year-on-year. The share of luxury tourists increased significantly last year. Also demand for corporate tours increased in 2017.
Mostly tourists came from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Russia and Brazil.
Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is the top visited area in the country followed by the wine region of Kakheti, high-mountainous Kazbegi, ancient town of Mtskheta, Gori, Uplistsikhe, and the Svaneti region.
We offer them the chance to explore the capital city Tbilisi and some of the iconic areas of Georgia such as Mtskheta, Kazbegi, Kakheti, Gori, Uplistsikhe, and Svaneti (which is a favourite destination), the Adjara region, and Kutaisi.
Tourists have mostly positive impressions of travelling in Georgia. Tourists are mainly attracted by the country’s human factors, communication, and the hospitality of Georgians. Georgian cuisine is their favourite with Georgian wine of course.
Tourists easily fall in love with Georgia’s historic-cultural sightseeing, nature and landscape.
Unfortunately, poor service and a lack of sanitary services on the roads remain the biggest problems so far.
Q. How would you wish for the hospitality sector to be developed in Georgia?
A. As the service level is very low in Georgia I would like the main attention to be paid to this direction and educational programmes to be offered for those involved in service. In general, there is a problem of professional education in the tourism field and we really need to work hard on this direction.
Healthy competition will also help to improve quality, of course.
As for the marketing strategy, I think we should be careful of selecting markets and segments. Georgia is a small country and its uniqueness is preserved in its traditions and untouched nature. In order for tourism to be sustainably developed in the country we want to attract more spender, educated, cultural tourists who demand high quality products and services. Accordingly the quality will be improved in terms of hotels, food facilities, and tourist companies.
We really need to avoid low-budget mass tourism in Georgia.
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