The FINANCIAL — “The August war and global recession have had a big impact on Georgia’s tourism industry, however I can now say that Georgia has completely recovered from its image of a broken country,” says Chairman of the Department of Tourism and Resorts of Georgia.
“According to official data Georgia hosted 600,000 visitors in the first six months of 2009. The number of tourists fell compared to the same period of the last year, except for July when Georgia hosted 2.9% more visitors. Almost 1,300,000 foreigners visited Georgia last year,” Mr. Kankava told the FINANCIAL. The majority of visitors come to Georgia from post soviet countries like Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Most of the rest come from Turkey and Israel.
“We are focusing on these specific target markets. We hosted 19 journalists from Ukraine this year. More than 34 media outlets have covered stories on Georgia. These journalists and film makers have included those working for the most popular and prestigious TV channels and publications in the country. Through press trips, participation in travel fairs we expect to increase the number of tourists in our country.
Our criteria for choosing these media companies was their popularity among the public and their general profile. Most of them were travel oriented special editions. Georgia also hosted 14 journalists from Israel recently.
Mr. Kankava, who served as the Ambassador in Cyprus, says that Georgia has many advantages compared to Cyprus.
“Georgia may be a country of agriculture and wine, but first and foremost this is a country of tourism. We should fully meet these expectations,” he says.
“Georgia participated in tourist exhibitions in Kiev and Israel. At the end of August the Department will organize exhibition of Georgian tourism destinations which will last for 10 days.
“In Istanbul airport we had an exhibition last month. At the departure hall we exhibited more than 80 images of our country. More than 3 million passengers have seen this exhibition. Special representatives were telling travellers stories about Georgia.
“As regard to the activities of our department, this year we arranged info tours for travel companies. The Department conducted research revealing the list of most popular destinations in the country. It includes whole statistics of customer’s tastes and tendencies. Besides the list we took into account some other important issues; the first being the popularity of Georgia among these countries. We also paid attention to whether there were direct flights or land or sea routes to the destinations. One of the criteria was the economical situation of these countries, how the global recession has affected them.
Q. There are currently being broadcast TV commercials of our neighbour countries, Azerbaijan and Armenia, on popular TV channels CNN and BBC. Do you plan to shoot a TV commercial of Georgia for the purpose of broadcasting on international channels?
A. The Department plans to advertise Georgia on leading TV channels worldwide. However we do think that work needs to be done in Georgia to prepare for such a campaign. These include infrastructural works, improving the quality of services provided by Georgian companies, and offering accessible prices. In my view, if you launch an advert prematurely, it can have a negative effect in the long run.
I mean that at first we need to complete some works inside our country. Despite my deep respect for Azerbaijan and Armenia, in these countries the infrastructure is not as good as Europeans are accustomed to.
Our department is working with leading promoting company Buzz TV. This company will prepare diversified videos about Georgia. Two commercials plus 52 minute documentary and branding messages will cost EUR 180,000. The price includes launching commercials by TV channels. These will be short films about the agriculture, tourism and investment environment. The short film will be aired by the most popular world TV channels. Among this list is TV channel Discovery and Travel Channel. Our department plans to negotiate with Travel Channel.
Q. The tourism sector abroad is actively using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. CRM software is used to support information about customers and regards their interactions. Have you already set up this system in Georgia and can you tell us how it works?
A. We are actively using a CRM system which helps us to plan our marketing strategy. For the beginning of 2009 we had completed our working plan and underlined the most prioritized markets for us. We explored which market was worth being focused on to strengthen our work.
“In the nearest future we will install bilingual tourist signs across Georgia.
We are restoring our webpage (www.tourism.gov.ge) which will be the visit card for many of the country’s visitors. 9 web cameras will be connected to the site which will display, in real time, scenes from the 9 most visited tourist hotspots in Georgia. These places are: Shardeni Street in Tbilisi, Mtatsminda Park, Freedom square, Kobuleti, Batumi, Bakuriani, Gudauri, Kutaisi and Sighnaghi.
One of the main goals of our department is the popularization of our web page on popular global websites. Soon it will be accessible and advertised on facebook, google and so on.
Q. You hold the position of ambassador’s executor in Cyprus. You have large experience in cooperating with foreigners and presenting our country abroad. Which are the main advantages of Georgia that you can underline in order to attract foreigners?
A. I have spent the last 8 years in countries which are most popular tourist destinations. The experience that I received abroad has encouraged me to prove that Georgia has no less tourism potential than, say, Cyprus.
Cyprus is a country divided in two parts. There are still peacekeepers in the country. This part is not recognized internationally except by Turkey. So we can say that there are some similarities between Cyprus and Georgia.
The number of tourists in Cyprus is 2.5 times more than its citizens. No European country hosts as many tourists annually as Cyprus per citizen.
I was studying the phenomena of Cyprus for a long time, until I held the position of Chairman of the Tourism Department in fact. And in that time I found out the three main components that popularize Cyprus as a tourist destination.
The first reason is the high quality of the roads in Cyprus. The Department of Roads in Georgia is doing its best to solve this problem and aiming to offer high quality roads.
The second advantage is the safety and insurance there. I think in this regard we have more advantages than Cyprus. It is worth mentioning in this respect that during the latest years there have been no incidents of tourists being robbed in Georgia.
The third factor is infrastructure and quality of service. We are focused on increasing the quality of service inside hotels. That’s why we have been holding special trainings for the staff of hotels in Adjara before the beginning of the new season. We made an inventory and underlined all the subjects that needed to be improved. Everyone agrees that service prices should be acceptable for tourists.
I believe that in three or four years we will host four times more tourists than we do now.
We are actively preparing for autumn and winter seasons, wine festival and vintage, this will be one of the most important attractions this year.
All our work makes me confident that in 2009 Georgia will host no less tourists than it did in 2008.
Q. During July 4-11 the Department of Tourism of Georgia hosted a Korean journalist who shot a documentary film about our country. Can you tell us the cost of this project and in which countries it will be broadcast?
A. The documentary film, shot by a Korean journalist, is already planned to be aired on the national TV channels of 11 Asian countries including China, Korea and Japan.
The Koreans that have shot films in numerous other countries worldwide, remained truly amazed with what they found in Georgia. They mentioned that they have never seen such cultural diversity.
In a single film they managed to fit in 4 totally different plots. We had hosted one group of Korean filmmakers in the past as well. They were going to shoot just one piece of footage, but ended up not being able to fit everything in, so had to shoot four separate parts, all with different themes. We have already received positive feedback about how the footage of Georgia affected Korean audiences.
Q. Why should foreigners visit Georgia today?
A. One of the main advantages of Georgia as a tourist destination is that this country is active in all four seasons. Even in Cyprus, the tourist season only lasts seven months of the year.
Q. Recently politicians and the media have been talking about the danger of a repeat of last August’s war in Georgia. We cannot be sure how close these forecasts are to reality, but the fact is that it has much affected the image of Georgia and influenced the tourism business. What is your stance on the issue?
A. There have been international reports describing Georgia as an unstable tourist destination. It’s very important for us to find out who the source of such statements was. I believe it was a part of Russian propaganda. The Russian press is spreading information that Georgia is included in the list of most risky countries to visit, which is imply untrue. Unfortunately this information was redistributed by Georgian media too though.
Of course Georgia cannot exclude the possibility of a repeat of Russia’s attack. The statements of Georgian officials over the last year have not been groundless. And of course this has had a bad effect on the image of our country. But I believe that informing society of the truth is absolutely necessary, even if it produces some negative results. However the Medvedev-Obama meeting did have its positive results, and now we must focus on the hopeful future of a booming tourism industry in Georgia!
Written By Madona Gasanova
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