The FINANCIAL — Day by day Georgia is becoming more attractive for tourists, Atakan Turhan, General Manager of Radisson BLU Iveria Hotel says. “Cultural tourism, wine tours, mountain skiing – such things are becoming more and more popular nowadays. People are looking for new destinations and Georgia has somehow not been fully discovered yet”, Mr. Turhan says.
Radisson BLU Iveria, five-star hotel which overlooks the Mtkavari River has already hosted more than 45,000 guests during the 15 months of its operations in the Georgian market, since September 2009. Currently, the chain is focused on adding the destination Batumi to its list of hotels.
Radisson Blu Iveria Tbilisi won the award for Best New Hotel presented by the Central Asia and Turkey Hotel Investment Conference (CATHIC), the leading luxury hotel in Georgia out of all recently opened hotels in the Caucasus and Central Asian region.
Mr. Turhan attributes this success to pure team work. “We hired the people we believed in, we invested in them and we did it as a team. I believe our team consists of really special people who work with all their heart. Georgians have a good culture of hospitality. What we are trying to do is bring this hospitality in line with the product. We are basically providing an upmarket version of true Georgian hospitality,” Turhan said.
“The predominant nationality of our guests is American,” he told us. “The second biggest number is Turkish. In terms of our third most common guests’ nationality, it changes, sometimes a European country or sometimes we have more regional guests from Azerbaijan or Ukraine,” Turhan said.
Atakan Turhan was working at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ankara, at the position of General Manager before arriving in Georgia. He graduated from Bosphorus University in the field of Tourism and Hotel Management, and from Anadolu University in the field of Business Administration. During his management in Tbilisi, Radisson BLU Iveria became one of the most popular hotels in Caucasus.
“I get very positive feedback from everyone who comes to Tbilisi. Guests find the city, architecture and people interesting. For summer I think Batumi is a good destination, the entire black sea coast is quite interesting. Moreover, in the mountains the nature is quite appealing if you are interested in climbing in those places,” Turhan told.
“As for winter ski destinations are quite popular. In the neighbour countries ski destinations are quite well-known already and moreover, those spots can be promoted in Europe. I believe there will be lots of people interested as even now some of the ski destinations in Europe do not have enough snow whereas some of the places have so much, to the point of even affecting day-to-day life. People are looking for new destinations and Georgia has big potential in a couple of its ski destinations so long as international standards are provided. People will come to the country as the prices are also attractive,” Turhan added.
Q. What should the Government of Georgia and Tourism Department do in order to encourage a big inflow of tourists in Georgia?
A. The first thing is advertisement and second – the image of the country. Georgia should be promoted in a way to create demand among people, to become curious about the country. For them to feel that it is a secure and interesting place, and that they can find something here that cannot be found elsewhere. More importantly is to emphasize the hospitality of Georgians. As hospitality is the main problem in some countries and certain nations lack it, whereas with the Georgian population it is innate.
Q. How do you promote Georgia abroad and in the Radisson Hotel chain?
A. Georgia is promoted as a new place to discover as it is a new destination for Rezidor Group. The promotion is conducted from both sides: from Radisson BLU Iveria itself and from the Head Office.Â
We advertise in neighbour countries and focus on Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Moreover, the Radisson chain is attending global fairs all around the world and at each fair our hotel is presented also. They promote all hotels in the chain which also includes Tbilisi and already our new hotel destination that is arriving in Batumi. We are selling the hotel, Tbilisi and Batumi destinations, and Georgia in General.
Q. What was the main vision behind opening the Radisson in Tbilisi?
A. It was a key destination for Radisson for this part of the world. We would like to be presented in the capital cities of countries like Georgia, now we are investing in the second city in the country – Batumi. Tbilisi is getting more and more important and we would not like to be late to be present in Georgia. Now Batumi is developing and there might be other projects in Georgia in the future too.
Q. Currently, the ongoing project of Radisson is building its hotel in Batumi. When will the hotel receive its first guests? Please provide a small description of the Radisson Batumi project.
A. The owners of Radisson BLU Iveria are investing in Batumi. The hotel will be opened by next summer. The capacity of the hotel is a little bit smaller than in Tbilisi and is up to 170 rooms.
We will be receiving our first guests in the summer in quite a busy period and we expect the hotel to be 100% booked. The hotel offers a good package of leisure facilities. There will be an Anne Semonin Spa, one nice restaurant with a bar on the top on the 20th floor and another restaurant downstairs, as well as meeting facilities. The building has windows throughout with nice views overlooking Batumi. So the product is quite similar.
Q. What will the main challenges be for Radisson in 2011?
A. We expect growth in the market for 2011. However, I hope the recession will be softened and a positive trend will be observed in the global economy. Besides this we have a new competitor and the cake will be shared with one more rival. Moreover, our priority is to keep and improve the service level with having more returning customers, reaching new companies and presenting our hotel and services to them and making sure they are happy with it.
Q. Please evaluate Radisson operations in the Georgian market?
A. We are 15 months on from our opening. We conducted lots of trainings at the beginning and we paid a lot of attention to hiring the right people. Now we are collecting the fruits of this investment. The guest and staff satisfaction results are showing quite high scores, and our focus is to keep things at the same level at least or improve them. The ratings of our hotel are the best in Tbilisi which is very good recognition from the people staying with us. Our target is to keep those scores high.
Q. What is the strategy and directions of Radisson in Tbilisi? Have the plans and strategies as well as marketing directions changed since the New Year?
A. Radisson has not actually changed its strategies since its opening. We try to be different from others in terms of creativity, do things differently, in ways nobody has done before. Our hotel is quite modern and we constantly come up with new ideas, which is the global image of Radisson.
Recognition of our brand in the market is quite high. We are famous for the service and product we offer, we get positive feedback and would like to keep it that way. The needs of our customers are more or less the same but if you can create a different service they get more interested.
Q. Radisson BLU Iveria offers different facilities like Anne Semonin Spa, Oxygen Bar, Filini Restaurant, as well as casino. Which services are most favoured among Georgians?
A. The Anne Semonin Spa is quite unique. Demand is quite high and we have reached capacity. The terrace we have is quite popular in the summer period. The casino is one of the most popular casinos in Georgia as far as I see. It is of a nice design and large space with a lot of entertainment, the meeting place is also quite unique in terms of its natural light and pre-function area. The oxygen bar is unique and everybody enjoys it.
I get very positive feedback for all the services and products we have. I am a very lucky general manager I have to say. More or less every outlet is recognized as the best in their category and I am lucky to be here, working with our team.
Q. You are from Turkey originally, one of the most developed countries in terms of mass tourism. What were the major steps taken in developing mass tourism in Turkey?
A. In Turkey business and leisure tourism are quite separate. In the large cities there are global brands. This all started 20 years ago when out of a couple of brands the number grew faster like the situation now in Georgia. I am one of those people who has been working for those international hotels, and the most difficult thing at the beginning was finding the right staff. Now there are more schools, and more hotels to teach people correct service skills.
In the vacation destinations what I observe are different brands, the number of international brands are limited and it’s more local. It’s mostly all inclusive packages which is the trend of the last 10-15 years. There is high demand for such packages in Turkey and it’s very good for families when you pay a price and don’t have to worry about extras.
The big cities are for international hotels, for businesses, for conferences, whereas leisure destinations are more for local hotels. The image is quite positive and everybody is interested in Turkey. Like in Georgia, in Turkey tourism is an important sector where people invest and earn a lot of money.
Q. Which fields are currently the most attractive for US as well as foreign businesses?
A. What I have been observing is a kind of selling of retail products. Moreover, I am seeing big interest from construction service providers who are coming here. As well as agricultural companies, I even met with a couple of people who are interested in producing organic products. Businesses see Georgia as the kind of market which is not nearly fully utilized and therefore presents vast opportunities.Â
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