"The New York Times": Mountains, monasteries and plenty of wine

by Genevieve Helliwell

30.03.2015. In recent edition of  The New York Times, self-described ‘Frugal Traveler’ Seth Kugel has written about his unique experience in Georgia – from his stay with a local guesthouse to sampling Georgian wine from traditional qvevri (clay pots), eating an abundance of delicious food and being taken on personal tours visiting monasteries and vineyards in Georgia’s Kakheti wine region.

Published in the Travel section of The New York Times online and print editions, Kugel’s piece lovingly describes the friendliness of the Georgian people, the magnificence of ancient churches and the affordability of his Georgian adventure – essential for any frugal traveler, he says.

My visit to Georgia was in the off-season — often a great way to save, of course. But it turns out that the ancient Christian land and former Soviet republic is an amazingly cheap place to go year-round, perfect for frugal travelers who like their bumpy bus rides to end with quality meals and private rooms. With that you get the mountain villages, historic towns, centuries-old monasteries, an intriguing cuisine and lots of good, affordable wine (often less than $10 for a decent bottle on restaurant menus).”

Source

Georgian Wine Catalogue

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"Travel Weekly": Drinking in Georgia's rustic charms

by Felicity Long

20.03.2015. You would never have known it was 3 a.m. in Georgia's Tbilisi Airport when our Lufthansa plane landed. Flights were arriving and departing, passport control was packed and the airport was brightly lit.

In fact, most air service in and out of Georgia takes place in the middle of the night, and locals are clearly used to these arrivals, for, like the airport, the Holiday Inn Tbilisi was fully staffed and busy when I checked in.

Admittedly, these quirky arrival times, along with a few other drawbacks we encountered in the days to follow such as long stretches of roads without basic amenities and an unsophisticated tourism infrastructure, could be an issue for the casual or inexperienced Europe visitor.

For the right traveler, however, these inconveniences are minor in return for what Georgia has to offer: ancient castles and churches as beautiful as anything in Italy and France, but without the crowds; a wine culture of increasing international renown; a stellar cuisine; and a warm reception from locals, who seem to have hospitality in their DNA.

"We know this is an unusual trip," said Max Johnson, founder and head of product development for the Great Canadian Travel Co., which, together with the Georgian National Tourism Administration and Living Roots, an inbound travel company, arranged the itinerary.

"We know travel agents may have only one or two clients who are looking for new, interesting programs like this, and we focus on them," he said.

Wine culture

The biggest draw for most of us, and the reason Georgia is slowly making its way onto mainstream radar, is its wine, which we sampled during a prelunch wine tasting at Vino-Underground, a wine cellar in Tbilisi.

Georgian Airways to resume flights to Saint Petersburg, Samara and Vladikavkaz

19.03.2015. Georgian Airways plans to resume direct flights to Saint Petersburg, Samara and Vladikavkaz in April-May. A related bid was sent to the Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia, TASS reports.According to preliminary information, flights to Samara will be made four times a week, to Saint Petersburg two times a week, to Vladikavkaz once a week.Georgian Airways says that flights to Saint Petersburg and Samara were of high demand in the past

Georgian Airways plans to resume direct flights to Saint Petersburg, Samara and Vladikavkaz in April-May. A related bid was sent to the Civil Aviation Agency of Georgia.

According to preliminary information, flights to Samara will be made four times a week, to Saint Petersburg two times a week, to Vladikavkaz once a week.

Georgian Airways says that flights to Saint Petersburg and Samara were in high demand in the past.

Source

Georgian Wine Catalogue

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Georgia's Mestia among "50 Unpredictable And Non-Clichéd Places To Travel To"

18.03.2015 (Hvino News). The Elite Daily website published a list of "50 Unpredictable And Non-Clichéd Places To Travel To In Your 20-s". Mestia from the mountainous region of Svaneti is one of the destinations mentioned in the Elite Daily's list.

“Mestia is an isolated town located in Northern Georgia, but it’s completely worth the visit. Drink Georgian wine, hike to a glacier, mingle with the locals and experience the epic beauty of the Caucasus mountains”, this is how the website describes the place. ....The hidden gems of the world are becoming hot spots for tourists — so all the more reason to visit these places sooner rather than later", - noted the author John Haltiwanger.

Among other "non-clichéd" places to travel, Elite Daily lists Yerevan (Armenia) and Kazan (Russia).

Elite Daily proclaims itself to be the voice of so-called Generation-Y (people born after 1980). Founded in 2012, this news website quickly reached  huge popularity of 40 million monthly unique visitors.

© Hvino News

Georgian Wine Catalogue

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Georgia beckons Malaysian travellers

14.03.2015. Although Malaysians are not well aware of the tourism potential of Georgia, a former Soviet Union state, its charge d’affaires ad interim Levan Machavariani is optimistic that a slew of tourism-related programmes to be held this year will entice more Malaysians to visit the country.

He said last year, Georgia received over five million foreign visitors, more than its population of 4.5 million, but only about 700 Malaysians visited the country.

“Last year, we had a little over 700 Malaysian visitors coming to Georgia, which was actually an increase in comparison to the previous years, but I believe it can be further improved and we are working towards it,” he told in a recent interview held at the news agency’s headquarters.

To entice Malaysians to visit Georgia, which is home to over 10,000 monuments of archeology, history, architecture and art since two million years ago, the embassy has planned a number of events including taking part in the European (Europe) Cinema under the European Union National Institute for Culture (EUNIC) project and in International Cinema Festival to be held in Kota Kinabalu in June.

Georgian wine heritage presentation at Berlin travel show

13.03.2015 (Hvino News) On March 7 the Georgian wine heritage presentation was held at ITB Berlin - the world’s leading travel show. Unique qvevri wine-making method, prehistoric wine artifacts, as well as longest and unbroken wine culture facts were presented by Davit Jishkariani, member of Georgian Wine Club. The event was supported by Georgian Experience and Georgian National Travel Agency. Presentation was followed by tasting of  Alaverdi Monastery wines.

ITB visitors, wine tourism professionals as well as students from Faculty of Tourism studies at University Primorska (Slovenia) attended the event.

"Interest was quite high, especially from the tourism management students from Primorska University. Generally, we should better promote our unique wine tourism potential", - noted Davit Jishkariani.

© Hvino News

Georgian Wine Catalogue

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Georgia’s wine region twins with Egypt’s Luxor

11.03.2015. Kakheti - Georgia’s oldest region and the homeland of Georgian wine has formed a close bond with the Egyptian city of Luxor, which was once the capital of the nation.

An agreement to recognize Kakheti and Luxor as twin regions, which emphasized bilateral collaboration in tourism, cultural and agricultural sectors, was signed yesterday.

Luxor, formerly an ancient Egyptian capital, is today known as the world's greatest open-air museum. The area boasts a range of historic scenery and ancient temples including the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, the majestic temple complexes of Karnak and Luxor, and various cruises along the Nile.

The Egyptian side noted thousands of tourists from all around the world arrive annually to visit these monuments, contributing greatly to the economy of the modern city.

Meanwhile Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region is the country’s top wine-producing region.

Kakheti is also rich in history and was an independent or semi-independent kingdom for long periods. With lots of historical places and beautiful churches, castles and mansions, Kakheti is an attractive destination, said the Georgian side.

Source

Georgian Wine Catalogue

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Georgia takes action to attract more Chinese visitors

10.03.2015. Developing tourism between Georgia and China is in focus at a meeting between representatives of the two countries today.

Georgia’s Vice Prime Minister and Economy Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who is paying a working visit to China, met the chairman of China’s National Tourism Administration Li Jinzao earlier today.

There Kvirikashvili said Georgia wanted to create more opportunities to develop Georgia-China tourism, and to do this, the country would prepare the special offers for Chinese tourism operators.

"We will design special financial packages that will contribute to tourism development between Georgia and China. Georgia uses the same mechanisms for Kutaisi International Airport, which aims to support Wizz Air Hungary airlines flights,” Kvirikashvili said.

The sides also discussed the possibility of developing direct flights between Georgia and China.

How can Georgia improve?

by  Dimitri Shvelidze

02.03.2015. It is not news that many counties build their economy and strategy mainly on tourism. The hospitality sector plays a huge role in a country’s further development and assists in changing its essence - moving from the developing country’s ‘list’ to the developed.  Georgia’s strategy and vector is mainly correct but the country still needs improvements in many areas.

The main factor is that tourism in Georgia should be boosted in numerous ways and supported by the appropriate agencies, ministries and officials. Our country, despite being very small and suffering from territorial problems, is rich in nature and beauty: rivers, ponds, deserts, mountains, seaside and ski resorts, hills, forests, rich history and cultural heritage - that can all be actively used and must be, in fact.  Currently it seems that there is no clear strategy on where and how our country can be advertised. If such a plan exists, we are not aware of it and then it is a problem of internal communication or maybe a lack of information.  I would like to create a small list of what can be done in order to make international business travelers, investors or tourists interested in our country:

a)    Advertisement - Georgia used to have nice ads that were actively distributed in many EU countries. I consider this practice necessary to be continued, though expanding the area of distribution. Currently Georgia could be very interesting for the U.S., the central and eastern part of the EU, and our neighbors (mindful of the conflict in the north though). An international ad team can also be hired and would be proved to be a worthy investment.