The FINANCIAL — Georgia is known to be a very hospitable nation, but like in many other countries there are people who use the opportunity to cheat tourists.
Our observations show that taxi drivers, guesthouse owners, small shop sellers and outdoor souvenir sellers often ask tourists to pay more than the product’s actual worth. So if you are planning a visit to Georgia or are currently in the country, then read this article carefully.
Taxis in Tbilisi aren’t cheap. But as fuel costs are quite expensive, the price of taxis becomes quite reasonable. There are some cheap taxis who take passengers around the central districts for 3 GEL. But as a general rule, moving from the centre of the capital to the suburbs (Gldani, Varketili, etc) costs about 10 GEL.
For tourists the prices are higher as they don’t know the real worth of things as well as not knowing the Georgian language and so can’t negotiate with taxi drivers. They have to pay as much as the driver says.
Elizbar Abramishvili has been a taxi driver for 13 years. He has a family of 5. Abramishvili was an engineer but lost his job and as he had a car, decided to turn it in to a taxi.
“When I started working as a taxi driver, I felt shy about it and simply told every passenger to give me as much money as they thought reasonable,” Abramishvili said. “But later living became tougher for us and I had to increase my prices. I’m happy when tourists take my taxi, as I can take more money from them. But I don’t think that I’m cheating anybody. If not I, then other taxi drivers would do the same.”
“Tourists are coming here to spend money, so I give them the chance to spend it,” he joked.
The main problem occurs when tourists arrive in Georgia and have to catch a taxi from the airport. Normally a taxi from the airport to the centre of Tbilisi costs 20-25 GEL, but for tourists this price can reach up to 60 GEL.
Some tourists feel upset by such an attitude, others find it normal. Jakub Cagara is a Pole who has been living in Tbilisi since July. He is staying in Georgia for 9 months.
“When I first arrived in Tbilisi, a taxi asked me to pay 50 GEL to take me from the airport to Sololaki,” Cagara said. “Of course I paid that amount. Back then I spent too much every day on taxis, but now I have made some Georgian friends they have told me that taxis don’t really cost that much. They are just cheating me. To tell the truth, I was upset, but not surprised. Now I know the real prices and try to negotiate with the drivers.”
“I can say that not only taxi drivers try to cheat me, guesthouse owners in the resorts do the same,” he noted.
In August Cagara spent ten days in Batumi. He liked the place a lot but said that the guesthouse owner also cheated him and his Polish friends. They paid 60 GEL per person.
“When they asked us to pay 60 GEL per person we agreed, as we had seen other more expensive apartments. But later we familiarized ourselves with our neighbours and found out that they were paying 40 GEL for a similar room. It’s a pity. If I travel to Adjara again next summer, I’ll ne sure to take my Georgian friends with me as I don’t want to be cheated again,” Cagara said.
The situation is somehow the same in every resort in Georgia. For example in Adishi, a very exotic and stunning mountain village of Georgia, the prices of guesthouses are 40 GEL per person for local people. But for tourists the same room costs 50 GEL. Local people claim that if they don’t do so, they can’t afford the hard living, as the living conditions and climate are very tough there.
“I feel ashamed about it, but otherwise we can’t live here,” Tarzan Kaldani, resident of Adishi told The FINANCIAl. “In spite of the price difference, we don’t cheat anybody. The real price is 50 GEL, we simple make a discount for Georgians. Maybe it isn’t fair, but if I also make Georgians pay 50 GEL, I’ll feel more ashamed, because I know the level of poverty in our country.”
Mainly tourists are cheated by souvenir sellers, as souvenirs are aimed especially at foreigners. Sellers make tourists pay twice as much as Georgians.
The FINANCIAL did an experiment about the prices of pictures at the Dry Bridge market, which is the best place for people interested in buying traditional Georgian souvenirs or pictures. Jakub Cagara and one Georgian guy went to the Dry Bridge to buy a picture. The experiment showed that the price for a tourist is almost twice as much. For example, where a picture costs 200 GEL (120 USD) for a Georgian, it costs 200 USD for a foreigner. The prices of almost everything differ so. The sellers say the same numbers but different currencies.
Usually the prices of pictures on Dry Bridge start from 50 GEL and go up to 1,000 GEL. Traditional Georgian souvenirs cost cheaper. Their prices start from 10 GEL.
Some small shop sellers also confess that they cheat tourists, but they prefer to remain anonymous.
“My salary is 8 GEL per day, which is too low. Sometimes when I sell to a tourist, I add an extra 1 GEL. I’ve never added more than 1 GEL. And such a fact seldom occurs,” the shop seller said.
In spite of some of these facts of cheating, the vast majority of tourists like the country and are more than willing to visit it again.
If you are a foreigner, we recommend you try to haggle with souvenir sellers. Ask your Georgian friends to help you buy something. Use authorized taxi companies. Search for them on the internet and make bookings in advance. At Tbilisi Airport you can ask for assistance at the Tourist Information Desk.
If you are planning your visit to Georgia, you can also ask our travel agent to provide some advice: sky@sky.ge. In addition you can share your experience of Georgia by emailing us: n.mghebrishvili@finchannel.com.
1,793,449 foreigners visited Georgia during the first 8 months of 2011, which is a 43% growth in accordance with last year’s index according to the Georgian National Tourism Agency. The number of Georgian tourists visiting foreign countries has also increased by 4% this year. According to the index of the first 8 months of 2011, 1,415,385 Georgians visited foreign countries, while in 2010 only 1,356,599 did.
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