The FINANCIAL — “Rafting is the most popular extreme sport in Georgia. We had more than 10,000 tourists that took part in rafting tours in the country in 2011. Our main clients are Georgians and foreigners living in Georgia.
Diplomats, students and representatives of ministries are very interested in rafting,” said Mamuka Burduli, Director of Adventure Club Jomardi. “Bike tours are also very popular. The number of bikes sold increased this year as well. In general I do not consider extreme tourism to be at all developed in Georgia. But I would say that we have the greatest potential for extreme tourism. We just need professional, qualified staff,” he added.
“Extreme tourism is developing wherever there exists the unique nature to support it and does not need developed infrastructure,” said Maia Sidamonidze, Head of the National Tourism Agency. “This kind of tourism is for individual tourists. The canyons, caves, high mountains and rivers in Georgia give tourists the possibility to enjoy the unique nature and adrenalin that comes with the sport. Several directions of extreme tourism have always been developed in Georgia, such as rock climbing for example. Extreme tourism is becoming more and more popular among Georgians as well. Famous tourist destinations such as Chile and certain African countries choose extreme tourism as a direction to find their niche on the world market,” Sidamonidze added.
“In extreme tourism the traveller should expect the unexpected. It is a form of niche tourism to dangerous places. Georgia is full of such places,” said Mamuka Nikoladze, Director of the Union of Speleology. “Georgians are not involved in extreme sport in general. They prefer to go to a restaurant than go caving. If we want to develop extreme tourism we’d better bring foreign extreme sportsmen here. When Georgians see how attractive and impressive this kind of sport is, they will follow the foreigners. So gradually extreme tourism will develop in Georgia too,” he added.
Another popular type of extreme tourism is paragliding landing. “Paragliding landing is extreme tourism which can be very profitable for the country. Georgians are interested in this sport along with foreign tourists,” said Irakli Kapanadze, Head of the Paragliding Club.
“Tbilisi Sea is a very convenient place for paragliding landing. There are other interesting places in Georgia as well, but Tbilisi Sea is a place where you have the possibility to fly and land several times,” he added.
Among the interesting and adventurous tours that Georgian clubs and organizations offer, is air-service as well. This is available in Natakhtari airport located just 20 miles North of Tbilisi. “From any location in Georgia it is possible to call an air-taxi,” said Anano Kekelia, the Manager of Vanilla sky, which offers an air-taxi service. “The average time of a typical one way flight to a destination within Georgia is one hour. Flight cost: 200 EUR per hour for an airplane, and 1,500 EUR per hour for a helicopter. This service is intended for middle and higher income customers,” she added.
Discussion about this post