The FINANCIAL — Georgia, the country regarded the cradle of wine, sees wine tourism as the next best opportunity for the further development of tourism infrastructure in the region.
“It’s very important to know the ways that Georgia could be benchmarked on international markets. We have 250 wine streets worldwide, which means 250 different destinations where tourists could go. Georgia has to benchmark itself to attract those tourists,” Knut Gerber, GTZ, Private Sector Development in Georgia- Project coordinator, told The FINANCIAL.
On April 10, 2008 German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in cooperation with the 10th CTF 2008 Caucasus Travel Fair held a one day wine tourism symposium at the Expo Georgia exhibition centre.
GTZ-project Private Sector Development in Georgia organized an International Wine Symposium Wine Tourism Facts & Trends – a Benchmark for Georgia. Experts from Croatia, Germany, Italy, Serbia and Romania together with local experts discussed the fundamental wine tourism facts and trends and presented the best practise samples from their countries. Finally the panel discussion gave everybody the chance to discuss the questions raised by experts.
GTZ is a government organization with experience of more than 30 years implementing commissions for the German Federal government, mainly the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), for other national and international, public and private-sector clients.
“This expo is an honorary event for Georgia, especially this year as it’s a 10 year jubilee celebration. Such events carry great meaning for the development of tourism infrastructure in the country and are the best means for attracting investments,” said Mamuka Akhvlediani, the Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi.
GTZ- project Private Sector Development in Georgia started activities in January 2005.
Private Sector development in Georgia envisions: Promoting the private sector in Georgia; supporting the establishment of a wine quality system in Georgia; Promoting agricultural training in Georgia; Supporting the European School for Management in Georgia.
Georgia is the oldest wine producing region of Europe, if not the world. Because of this, it is often referred to as “the birth place of wine” or “the cradle of wine making”. The fertile valleys of the South Caucasus, which Georgia straddles, are believed by many archaeologists to be the source of the world’s first cultivated grapevines and neolithic wine production, over 7000 years ago. Many also believe that the etymology of the word wine comes from the Georgian word for wine – gvino. Due to the many millennia of wine in Georgian history, the traditions of its viticulture are entwined and inseparable with the country’s national identity.
Among the best-known regions of Georgia where wine is produced are Kakheti (further divided into micro-regions of Telavi and Kvareli), Kartli, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, and Abkhazia.
The exhibition was organized by ExpoGeorgia Co with the support of Tbilisi City Hall, the Ministry of the Economic Development of Georgia/ Department of Tourism and Resorts and the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia.
Together with local companies, companies from Azerbaijan, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Latvia, UAE and Ukraine participated in the exhibition.
“More than 90 companies were presented at 45 exhibition stands. The participants were: tourism companies, air companies, national parks, investment projects, and mass media. National craft and souvenirs exposition was also an attractive expo to visit,” said Nino Gamrekeli, Project Manager Expo Georgia.
The visitors of the exhibition had the opportunity to overview the tourism potential of the Caucasus region, contact the representatives of the companies, and plan summer and winter holidays in Georgia and abroad.
Parallel to the exhibition, various kinds of amusements and tourist shows were entertaining assets about the event.
According to Nino Gamrekeli, Expo Georgia, 1 sq/m stand rent price was EUR 110.
Considering the fact that 45 participants had rented a minimum of 5 sq/m at the Expo Georgia pavilion, the least amount of the total space rented amounts to EUR 24,750.
“GTZ cooperates with private sector institutions, the International Business Development and Investment Promotion Centre in Batumi, Business High School Batumi and the biggest Georgian fair company Expo Georgia,” Maia Kvaliashvili PR German Technical Cooperation said to The FINANCIAL.
As Kvaliashvili said, common future activities are: sector based capacity development, roundtables, matchmaking & marketing events and the establishment of innovative SME supporting institutions like Competence and Promotion Centres in the wine and tourism sector located in Adjara AR, Kacheti or in Svaneti.
“Today’s arrangement is dedicated to the International Wine Symposium. Participants of this symposium are experts of the leading tourism and wine countries, and also local experts. Together with the foreign colleagues we analyzed future plans and aims, which were worked out by the strategic master plan of Georgian Tourism Development,” Dimitry Japaridze, Department of Tourism of Georgia, told The FINANCIAL.
Georgian Tourism Development was presented to people a month ago. This plan envisions uniting the 2 independent industries: wine production and tourism. World practice showed that this plan has good results for both sectors. Kacheti and Racha could be the best targets in this respect.
“It’s my first time to Georgia, I was on a one day visit to Kakheti and I’m impressed with the quality of the wine. Although hard work is still ahead,” Herbert Dorfmann, Secretary General Viticulture Union of Europe Regions, told The FINANCIAL.
In Dorfmann’s words, they are united by Viticulture Union of Europe Regions which unites non EU member countries as well. Georgia will be the furthest East European country to become its member. Viticulture Union of Europe Regions will hold a General Assembly after which supposedly two regions: Kakheti and Racha will become its members and the union will cover the whole of Europe.
“We see wine as a chance for Croatian producers for access to the EU. We are facing strong competition with cheap quality wines as Croatian production of wine is at this moment reasonably expensive,” said Lucijano Jaksic, Expert German Technical Cooperation, Croatia.
As Jascic said, the main export market for Croatia is the EU countries of former Yugoslavia, which are its neighboring countries. Croatian wines lack international image and are hence fairly unknown abroad, but they are working on this factor.
“We are here to show Georgian colleagues our ways of promotion in wine regions and to exchange experience with local colleagues. Serbian wines are not presented in the Georgian market. We export wines to former Yugoslavian countries. At this point Georgia is not our target market,” Miona Cankovich, Expert German Technical Cooperation, Serbia, told The FINANCIAL.
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