The FINANCIAL — Georgia as a relatively new tourist destination hosted more than 2.3 million international travellers in the first ten months of 2011, according to data of the Georgian National Tourism Agency. About 300,000 international travellers visit Georgia every month.
“We will almost certainly have hosted about three million travellers by the end of 2011,” Maia Sidamonidze, Head of GNTA, said in an interview with The FINANCIAL. “If the winter season starts early due to lots of snow, then the number of tourists may even exceed three million. The number of tourists for the first ten months on 2011 was 42 percent more in comparison to data for the same period of 2010.”
“Almost all the regions of Georgia are popular but the capital hosts the biggest number of tourists compared to the other regions. People visiting the country mostly like to travel to Batumi, Kobuleti, Kutaisi, Mtskheta, Ureki, Stepantsminda, Gori, Borjomi, Lagodekhi, Mestia and Sighnaghi.”
“We have seen record increases in the number of tourists from our priority markets including Iran with a 194 percent increase, Kazakhstan with a 162 percent increase, China with a 140 percent increase, and Poland with a 77 percent increase. Our top visitor countries in 2011 have been Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, Iran, Ukraine, Israel, the USA and Germany. International travellers mainly visit Georgian sea and ski resorts for rest and recreation. At the same time cultural and adventure tours, ecotourism, wine tourism and business tourism are also very popular.
The average duration of a visit to Georgia is five days. 44 percent of visitors stay in the country from two to seven days. Visitors coming for rest and recreation stay for six to seven days. Business travellers tend to stay for about three days.
66 percent of visitors in Georgia are male and 44 percent female. The majority of them belong to the age group 25-44.
Q. Which tourism directions are the best developed in Georgia? What are the problems that are hindering their development?
A. Georgia is a new tourist destination and all directions of tourism are currently being developed. The biggest problems are with infrastructure and professional human resources. For example, development of alpine tourism needs a rescue service and certified international mountain guides.
Apart from sea and ski resorts, which are the main directions, business tourism is developing very successfully as well. The main centres of business tourism are Tbilisi and Batumi. The main segment is adventure and eco tourism which prosper most in the summer. The share of health tourism isn’t big yet but interest towards this segment is increasing. The low prices and various choices of health resorts have resulted in the rising interest of foreigners in undergoing comparatively cheaper medical procedures here.
The Agency is currently working intensively on developing wine, ski and alpine tourism. As well as that we plan to develop ‘geotourism’ which includes ethnographic, culinary and eco tourism.
Q. Which direction of tourism is the most profitable? Tourists from which countries tend to spend the most money?
A. The most profitable type of tourism in Georgia is business tourism as business travellers spend the largest amount of money. Then again, visitors that are coming to holiday make up the biggest share of all the tourists in the country therefore they bring in the biggest revenue. Tourists coming from developed countries including Western Europe, North America and Eastern Asia spend more money in Georgia.
Q. What would you consider to be the main challenges for 2011?
A. 2011 was one of the most dynamic years for the development of tourism and its infrastructure in Georgia. It is not just the increased number of tourists that proves this. Old resorts have been rehabilitated and some new ones created. Development of the transport network and the building of new airports have also been very important steps. The airport in Mestia is up and running and the building of another one is Kutaisi is already underway. I consider the newly-rehabilitated Zugdidi-Mestia road to be the most important project of 2011.
The main challenges and aims remain further development of tourism infrastructure, improvement of service quality, increase of human resource qualification, and raising of the country’s awareness abroad to take its niche in the world tourism market.
Q. Please could you tell us about your plans for 2012?
A. By the end of December we’ll announce our plans. Some of them are: the starting of an EU Twinning project. The project includes creating the structure of a Destination Management Organisation, improving the legal system and increasing the qualifications of employed people in the sector,. As well as these we plan to found a training centre of international standards, open some new tourism information centres, create new tourism products, rehabilitate old resorts and create new ones, as well as undertake an intensive advertising campaign for the winter season in our target markets.
Q. The biggest flow of tourists comes from our neighbour countries. Which markets are most targeted by Georgia’s advertising campaigns? What tools do you use to attract tourists from Western Europe and America?
A. Our target markets are divided into two parts: primary and secondary target markets. Our primary market includes our neighbours, post soviet, Baltic and Eastern European countries where awareness of Georgia is quite high. We have more of an advertising type campaign in these countries. Our secondary target market is Western Europe and long-haul destinations including America and Asia. Awareness of Georgia as a tourist destination is low and therefore we conduct PR and informative campaigns there. We intensively work on entering new markets and creating or developing products for them. As for tourists from Western Europe and America, they have visa-free entry to Georgia and this significantly supports increasing the number of tourists from there. More charters are essential for further growth of visitor numbers. Our advertisements on American channels have helped to increase popularity as well.
Q. How do the prices of air tickets and hotels in Georgia affect the process of trying to attract more tourists?
A. The prices offered by the private sector have to be relative to the quality of service. Today demand is very high and lots of businesses have guaranteed clients. That’s why they don’t think of improving their service, but this is a short-term policy. This has resulted in prices that do not correspond with the service. But demand and competition are gradually increasing and businesses will soon realize that they have to improve their quality and have reasonable prices.
Q. Tourists often complain that there is no well-developed night life infrastructure. Do you plan to implement some changes in regards to development of such infrastructure?
A. The private sector has to do this. We, as a state, have increased demand and created adequate conditions to create infrastructure for this. Now it’s the private sector’s turn. There is demand for night clubs and places of entertainment and soon supply will follow the demand.
Q. Please could you give us more details about the strategy of increasing service quality in Georgia? You planned to do trainings in the regions. What have the results of these trainings been?
A. We have short-term as well as long-term strategies to raise the quality of service. The short-term plan includes annual short training in different tourist spots. Short courses in managing guesthouses, business management and general English were conducted in the regions. These resulted in increased service quality. The short-term strategy means improving the level of education and increasing human resources’ qualifications. A vocational school opened in Tbilisi and the regions are oriented on trainings for medium and low level service staff including waiters, cooks, barmen etc. GNTA will open a Learning, Training, Research and Development Centre where people can increase their knowledge not just in this sphere, but tourism experts and students will have the possibility to conduct research. This will support tourism development in the long-term.
Q. You have fully rehabilitated some of the regions of Georgia and some are still in the process. Some people call this process ‘Sighnaghization’ after Sighnaghi, the first town to be rehabilitated in this way. There have been some negative reactions from locals however, so what do you say to that?
A. Public opinion is always divided on certain issues. That is normal and there is nothing unusual about it. We are doing all of this for the country and its prosperity. If anyone doesn’t like something, they can become involved in the processes. Everything is transparent. There was uproar in France years ago when they constructed glass pyramids in front of the Louvre. But now this has become one of the main sights to see in Paris.
The most important thing here is the preservation of ancient and historic structures and the rehabilitation of tourist infrastructure, and not a discussion about taste.
Q. This year Georgia participated in the international exhibition Cruise and Shipping Miami 2011. What were the results of that participation?
A. The main aim of our participation in the exhibition and conference was to increase cruises to Batumi by attracting more international cruise companies. We had very concrete negotiations and plans. As a result of the negotiations Batumi has already been added to the tourism catalogues of famous cruise companies.
Q. How readily available is information about Georgia for American or Asian tourists? What tools do you use for this?
A. Information about Georgia is available via the internet as well as in other media forms. But the information is limited. We have huge plans regarding an informational campaign for 2012. This means renewing our webpage and actively using social media as well as search engine optimization. Our webpage plays a significant role in distributing information about Georgia and renewing it is our priority. This process has already started.
Georgia is included in the catalogues of some huge tourism agencies including TUI, Mir Corporation, KUONI, JTB and more. We also help the private sector to be included in the lists of big online agencies like booking.com, lastminute.com, tripadvisor.com etc.
We seasonally run advertisements in our target markets and also have huge projects for big channels like CNN and Travel Channel. They cost a great deal but are necessary and what’s more, effective. They increase the number of tourists and support the inflow of more foreign currency. Supply and demand are also increasing. These are the more short-term results of advertisements. If there is no advertisement nobody abroad will know about the country’s potential and development. Currently we have an advertisement in our primary target markets to bring tourists to our winter resorts.
Q. Georgia is now registered on Google Maps. What will that change?
A. This is a very important development. The majority of potential tourists look at a country via this webpage before travelling to that place. Now any type of information about Georgia will be available on Google Maps.
Q. How much do you like travelling yourself? Which are your favourite countries to visit, and your favourite regions in Georgia?
A. I adore travelling and that’s why I chose tourism as my profession. I like to experience new, exotic and different things. I love travelling across Georgia and have very fond memories of each and every region. I especially love Mestia in Svaneti. This is a place that you always want to go back to. I like Batumi in the autumn when it is still warm. Walking or bicycling in the main boulevard is very pleasant. Kakheti always puts one in a good mood. In general travelling means freedom to me.
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