The FINANCIAL — Intercontinental, one of the leading tour operators on the Georgian market, will start charter flights to Goa, India, this December.
The FINANCIAL — Intercontinental, one of the leading tour operators on the Georgian market, will start charter flights to Goa, India, this December. According to Nino Makhviladze, General Director of Intercontinental, the company will be introducing updates in 2013 and offering people some new destinations as a result. As she says, 2012 has been a very successful year and quite busy for the company.
“The year 2012 has exceeded our expectations. It has been very successful. Egypt has proved to be one of our most exclusive and top destinations recently. Demand for Egypt this year increased by 20%. Intercontinental has made quite solid investments in promoting and popularising Egypt in Georgia. So the increased demand has been quite a good result for our company,” Makhviladze said.
“Although the year 2012 is coming to an end, we have managed to offer one more new thing to our customers. Intercontinental is a company of innovations and always comes up with new projects for the market. This year, for the first time in Georgia, we are starting charter flights to Goa, India! A very large number of Georgians have been waiting for this opportunity. There is big interest in Goa among Georgian tourists. We will have our first charter flight for this New Year,” Makhviladze said.
“We started thinking about bringing this destination to Georgia last year. I visited Goa last winter, during the peak season there. I was introduced to the characteristics of tourism at this destination, which appeared to be quite specific and a bit hard. But Intercontinental is used to overcoming any obstacles and we think that this project will be successful. It is mostly young people that should enjoy seeing this little island as it is truly unique and exceptional. It is the XXI century now after all,” Makhviladze said.
“Spending New Year in Goa will be exciting. I am inviting people to Intercontinental to arrange an unforgettable time there. It’s a very beautiful destination with a rich history and culture. I travel abroad very often, but visiting Goa has had a great effect on me. This is one of the first places to see. Plus, locally this is one of the cheapest places,” Makhviladze said.
Intercontinental has an exclusive offer together with Bank Republic for the Goa tour. They offer an interest free loan for 12 months.
“In comparison with Egypt Goa tour packages are a bit more expensive, so we are giving all people the opportunity to accept this great offer. This is an exclusive contract between Intercontinental and Bank Republic. People can only receive this product by visiting Intercontinental’s office. The loan can be approved quickly and easily. The main requirement for receiving the loan is to have a regular salary-paying job,” Makhviladze said.
“The cost of the tour is divided over twelve months in easy-to-pay instalments. The average cost of the packages will probably be USD 1,300-1,500 per person per week. If people choose high class hotels like Hyatt or Kempinski then the cost will increase to USD 2,500 per person for two weeks,” Makhviladze said.
According to Makhviladze intensive promotion of tours to Egypt has slightly decreased the demand for European destinations at Intercontinental. Hence, in 2013 they are going to actively promote different European countries.
“Cuba is one of the most popular destinations among Intercontinental’s clients. We were the first to bring Cuban tours to Georgia. The Maldives have also become very popular, clients want to visit Caribbean shores. This year, surprisingly, Jamaica was among the top destinations, although we didn’t promote it,” Makhviladze said.
“This past summer was very active and busy for our company. We had a significant increase of tourists. This was an exceptional year for me, I couldn’t even manage to take a holiday myself due to the very busy summer and autumn we had at the company,” Makhviladze said.
“This year we changed our partner company and started working with Fly Georgia in regard to arranging flights. This company has a very high level of service. Intercontinental has always been oriented on level of service and that’s exactly why we chose Fly Georgia to be our partner. This company has the newest airbuses which are of the year 2010-2011. The staff are very experienced and service is very nice, corresponding to European standards. We are proud to offer our clients such good service,” Makhviladze said.
For summer 2013 Intercontinental will be adding some new countries and destinations. The VIP branch of Intercontinental in Vake will be opened next year on 7 April, Intercontinental’s birthday.
As Makhviladze said, although the company sometimes serves groups of foreigners and corporate clients visiting Georgia, Intercontinental will start working actively on incoming tourism in 2013.
“Georgia is a really beautiful country, with plenty of interesting places to see. Our country is famous for its historic buildings which are always interesting for tourists. Such unforgettable places as Svaneti (Mestia specifically) and Gudauri with its skiing facilities are always very appealing to foreigners,” Makhviladze said.
“Georgia is quite an expensive country. To promote the country and develop tourism here, I would start with offering low prices in order to attract tourists from different countries. We can start with low prices and when things develop they might later increase. Such brand hotels as we have in Georgia don’t have such high prices abroad. They correspond to the economic situation of the countries where they operate. This is one of the obstacles for foreign tourists in Georgia,” Makhviladze said.
“Flights to our country are also very expensive. We don’t have such low cost air companies as EasyJet. Transport isn’t cheap in the tourism sector here. Overall Georgian tour packages appear to be quite expensive. The country and private businesses should invest a great deal in order to bring such expensive products to foreign markets,” Makhviladze said.
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