Saturday, January 25, 2014

Georgia participates in the international tourist exhibition „FITOUR 2014"

25.01.2014. From January 22, 24 to January 26 National Tourism Administration of Georgia participates in the international tourism exhibition-fair „FITUR 2014" in Madrid, Spain.

Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development informs that the exhibition is one of the large-scale ones in the world, 10 644 companies of 166 countries participate in it. 7 532 journalists attend it and it has about 124 700 visitors. Georgia participates in this exhibition for the 7th year.

In addition to National Tourism Administration, stand of Georgia will also include following companies: Visit Georgia, Georgica Travel, Georgian Discovery Tours, Caucasus Travel and Concord Travel.

Spain is one of the target tourism markets for Georgia. According to statistic, from 2013 to 2013 (data of 11 months 2013) number of tourists increased by 26% from Spain.

Source

Friday, January 24, 2014

Discover Georgia in Denmark

Ambassador Nikoloz Rtveliashvili, Director of 
Discover Georgia Nino Kekelidze and Tamar 
Kakhidze, Georgian Tourism National 
Administration
24.01.2014. On January 17-19 Copenhagen hosted the Ferie and Fritid travel fair, at which, alongside other holiday and leisure industry representatives from around the world, the Georgian tourism company Discover Georgia was represented. The Georgian company presented to the fair visitors with all kinds of tours throughout Georgia including sea, mountain, wine, and biking tours.

The fair was attended by the Georgian Ambassador in Denmark Nikoloz Rtveliashvili. According to him, the number of visitors from Denmark to Georgia is increasing year to year. According to the official data in 2011, 1,500 tourists visited Georgia, in 2012 – 2,200 tourists. The ambassador says that there is no official information for 2013 regarding the number of tourists, although he is sure that their number is even more than in 2012.

Director of Discover Georgia Nino Kekelidze believes that this fair will bring success to her company and attract more tourists from Denmark and its neighboring countries to Georgia.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Georgia to open new winter resort Tetnuldi by 2016

03.01.2014. A new winter resort is expected to be opened by 2016 in Georgia’s mountainous region of Svaneti. The resort, worth 40 million and co-financed by the French government, will be located on Tetnuldi, a prominent mountain peak situated in the central part of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range, in Svaneti. GEL 40 million will be allocated for this from the Georgian state.

Construction of the ski resort “Tetnuldi” is planned to be finished by 2016. At this stage, according to the agreement between the state and Pomagalski company, the French partners should provide the project with 3 rope-ways, according to the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia.

The French Government allocated EUR 18 million for this project as a loan to the Georgian Government. From the Georgian side GEL 40 million will be allocated for this project in the future.

With 100% participation from the Government’s side the Tetnuldi Development company was created to supervise the development of the Tetnuldi project. The main mission of this company consists of implementing the design and construction works. At this stage there are design works in progress, which are being carried out by Ltd Geographic ordered by Tetnuldi Development. After the works will be finished an international tender will be announced for principal construction works, according to the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The year 2014 declared the year of Improvement in tourism-linked services

18.12.2013 (Hvino TOUR News). Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration [GNTA] Giorgi Sigua presented the report of the work done by the National Tourism Administration in 2013. The event was opened by Economic Development Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

"2013 year was an unprecedented successful for the Georgian tourism. We have the most impressive growth across Europe. Georgia was highly appreciated in the report of the United in the number of international travels, which exceeded 5 million.

Increased macroeconomic indicators deserve a special recognition, including international revenues, the share of tourism in GDP and employment. In 2014 the National Tourism Administration’s budget will be doubled and the Agency will work with redoubled efforts on three priority directions. It is the positioning on the target markets , development of tourism infrastructure – regulation and taking care of improving the quality of service, " – Sigua noted.

In his words, the National Tourism Administration implemented a number of unprecedented and large-scale projects in 2013.

Georgia’s economy received 730 million USD from tourism this year

18.12.2013 (Hvino TOUR News). Revenues received from tourism totaled 730 million USD in the current year,  Minister of Economy Giorgi Kvirikashvili said at the presentation, summing up tourism sector activity's in 2013.

According to Mr. Kvirikashvili, in recent years the number of tourists traveling to Georgia has significantly increased, this year’s rate is high as well: compared to last year the number of international tourists in Georgia increased by 23% and amounted to five million. According to the Minister, the number of tourists is expected to grow by 18 % next year, while revenues from tourism should make 1.1 billion USD of the gross domestic product. Kvirikashvili says that foreign tourists are particularly interested in Kakheti and wine tours and tourist interest and routes should grow.

© Hvino TOUR News

Monday, December 16, 2013

2013 was an unprecedented year for Georgian tourism

16.12.2013 (Hvino TOUR News). According to Siko Gegiadze, advisor to the Chairman of the National Tourism Administration Administration,  2013 was very important for the development of Georgia’s image as tourism destination. The number of visitors amounted to 5 million this year that is unprecedented for the country.

According to Gegiadze, the number of tourists increased by 57 % compared with last year. Tourists from Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic states were especially active this year.

In Gegiadze's words, the winter tourist season is going well in terms of tourists inflow, Gudauri and Bakuriani resorts are working at almost 100 % capacity,  and the National Tourism Administration is currently working on the popularization of Mestia resort.

Next year, the Tourism Administration expects 6 million tourists in the country.

© Hvino TOUR News

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Russian tourists the largest spenders in Georgia

11.12.2013. The average expenditure of foreign travelers to Georgia per visit amounts to GEL 626. Russian tourists on average are the most generous visitors while Armenians, who are the majority in terms of total number of tourists in the country, spend the smallest average amount of money when staying in Georgia. Food and beverage, accommodation, shopping and entertainment are the main outgoings of visitors to the country.

A total of GEL 2,841,876,840 was spent by tourists in Georgia in the first 10 months of 2013, according to data provided by the Georgian National Tourism Administration. 30% of the total amount was spent on food and beverage, 20% was spent on accommodation, 18% on shopping and 14% on entertainment.

“Citizens of Russia are in first place in terms of amount of expenditure in Georgia. Per trip to Georgia they spend on average about GEL 1,180. The following places are held by visitors from Central and Eastern European countries. Tourists from these countries spend GEL 943 on average. After them comes Turkey - GEL 533, Azerbaijan - GEL 467, and Armenia - GEL 301, according to data from the Georgian National Tourism Administration. This data is from the first 10 months of 2013.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Hvino.com joins the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) of Georgia

10.12.2013 (Hvino TOUR News). Hvino TOUR News  is pleased to communicate that our parent company Hvino.com has become the member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) of Georgia. ICC is one of the most influential business associations, which unites more than hundred companies and organizations operating in Georgia, including major business players such as Bank Republic, Radisson, KPMG, Forbes.

As  an  ICC  member,  Hvino.com will  be  invited  to participate  in ICC meetings with government officials, meetings with leaders in the business community, and ICC seminars, commission meetings and social events. We hope that membership in ICC will allow to enrich our news service, to raise popularity of our medias, and to broaden our readership. On behalf of our organization we take this opportunity to say thanks to ICC for the invitation.

© Hvino News   |  DRINK GEORGIAN!

Wine business soars as ATÜ Duty Free sales surge at Tbilisi Airport

10.12.2013. ATÜ Duty Free sales have surged by +40% year-on-year at Tbilisi Airport (from January to November), with Georgian wines making a strong contribution.

News of the performance was reported by The Financial newspaper, and confirmed with ATÜ Duty Free by The Moodie Report.

The growth comes amid plans for further investment in the Tbilisi store by ATÜ in 2014. As reported, the company will also expand its Georgian business to a third location (after Tbilisi and Batumi) with the opening of a 148sq m shop at Kutaisi Airport early next year.

At Tbilisi, a Wines of Georgia outlet that opened two years has proved a big success, said ATÜ Duty Free. The shop has helped to promote Georgian wine culture as well as driving sales, it added.

The store represents 11 leading Georgian wines, with Teliani Valley said to be the best-selling brand. Sales at the Wines of Georgia store have leapt by +32.3% in the January-November period compared to a year ago, the retailer said.

Other top-selling national items include Khvanchkara semi-sweet red wine, Sarajishvili XO, Ch.Mukhrani Chacha grape spirit, Marani Kindzmarauli semi-sweet red, Teliani Khvanchkara red, Badagoni Khvanchkara semi-sweet red and Satrapezo Saperavi dry red.

ATÜ Duty Free is Turkey’s leading travel retailer with an increasing portfolio of operations overseas. The company is a joint venture between TAV Airports and Unifree, in which Gebr Heinemann is principal shareholder and supplier.

Source

Monday, December 9, 2013

Stalin Museum the main attraction for foreign tourists in Georgia

09.12.2013.The number of visitors at the Georgian National Museum increased by almost 40,000 during the first ten months of 2013, compared with the same period of last year. There are over 188 museums established in Georgia. Meanwhile the majority of foreigners’ interest appears to be in Stalin’s museum.

“Stalin is a part of our history and therefore a tourist attraction. There are billions of people globally for whom Stalin is a historical character and Georgia will use this for its economic benefit,” said Giorgi Sigua, Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration.

A famous statue of the Soviet dictator was torn down overnight three years ago in his hometown of Gori, which came under Russian bombing.

The Ioseb Stalin museum hosted 5,909 individuals in September 2013, while during the same month of last year it was 3,968. Most of the tourists were from European countries, in particular Poland. Many of the visitors were also from Israel, Russia, China and Iran.

GTA bringing 9 new products, including a Zip-Line, to Georgia from May 2014

by Mariam Papidze

09.12.2013. Nine new tourism products, which the Georgian Tourism Association (GTA) is bringing to Georgia, will be available from May 2014. The installation of special equipment for using these products has already been completed. Out of the 9 products one is totally novel in Georgia - the zip-line, which has been installed on the Mtirala Mountain in the Adjara region, near Batumi.
A zip-line consists of a pulley suspended on a cable, usually made of stainless steel, mounted on an incline. It is designed to enable a user propelled by gravity to travel from the top to the bottom of the inclined cable by holding on to, or attaching to, the freely moving pulley.

“Bringing the zip-line tourism product to Georgia is very innovative and useful for developing domestic tourism and making tourism products more diverse,” Nata Kvachantiradze, Chairwoman of the Georgian Tourism Association said. “While implementing this project in Georgia we also thought about developing 4 season tourism in the country. Georgia will become a 4 season tourism country, which means that interest from tourists should be equal throughout spring, supper, autumn and winter. This is a challenge for the country. Currently, during the peak season demand is high, hotels are full. But when the season is over, the resorts are dying. We should do our best to attract tourists after the season ends. The hotels are overloaded during summer while they are empty in winter. In such a way business cannot develop properly in Georgia. Time is required to adequately plan out activities for the off-peak period, which is the responsibility of both the state as well as us. It could involve cultural or MICE tourism for example,” she added.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Georgia to host more than 6 million tourists in 2014

by Madona Gasanova

08.12.2013. The number of international travellers in Georgia will exceed 6 million in 2014. This year Georgia has had 26% growth of tourism and was named the star performer by the World Tourism Administration. GEL 15 million is the minimum budget of the GNTA for 2014. The booming prosperity of the sector is delivering a good message to investors; however Georgia is facing a lack of hotels .

“In March 2014 the hotel Rooms will open in Tbilisi . The hotel will have the same concept as it has in Kazbegi. Radisson Park Inn, InterContinental, Rixos and Hilton are all upcoming projects. Hotel Ambassador is building another hotel in its neighbouring territory. Together with boutique and middle class hotels , more than 100 new hotels will be opened in Georgia in the next two years,” Giorgi Sigua, Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) said.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Georgian qvevri wine-making method approved for UNESCO's Intangible Heritage List

05.12.2013 (Hvino News). According to UNESCO official release published on December 4, the ancient Georgian traditional qvevri wine-making method has been approved for inclusion into UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

According to UNESCOPRESS, 14 new elements were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity at the 8th session of the UNESCO's Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage in Baku.

Among the titles of the newly inscribed elements there is "ancient Georgian traditional qvevri wine-making method - Georgia":
Qvevri wine-making takes its name from the distinctive egg-shaped earthenware vessel – the Qvevri – in which wine is fermented and stored in villages and towns throughout Georgia. The tradition plays a vital role in everyday life and celebrations, and forms an inseparable part of the cultural identity of Georgian communities, with wine and vines frequently evoked in Georgian oral traditions and songs. Knowledge of this heritage is passed down by families, neighbours and friends, all of whom join in the communal harvesting and wine-making activities. 

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Khachapuri and Khinkali among Europe’s 55 dishes worth traveling for

30.11.2013. Britain's Daily Mail gives a list of fifty five European Foods Worth Traveling For. Two Georgian dishes – khachapuri  and khinkali are among them.

‘Even if we don’t always remember the history behind the Colosseum, the significance of Tower of London, or who commissioned Versailles, after returning home from a trip, we can almost always remember what we ate while we were there.

Georgian dish that is on Daily Mail’s list of foods worth traveling for is khachapuri: ‘This indulgent dish is like a blank canvas for different flavors. From Georgia, khachapuri is cheese-filled bread often topped with egg and butter. Because of its simplicity, there are many variations, and cooks often add potatoes, various cheeses, and sauces to the dish’.

Second Georgian dish on the list is khinkali. ‘These Georgian dumplings are filled with mixtures of raw, spiced meats and various vegetables. The dumplings are prepared by being stuffed and then boiled, trapping the meat’s juice inside as the filling cooks. The result is a delicious, precious liquid that customers try not to spill as they eat the dumpling’, the Daily Mail informs.

Source (edited)

Georgia’s Tourism Administration Launched a Large-scale Marketing Campaign in Ukraine

30.11.2013. The National Tourism Administration is implementing a large-scale marketing campaign in Ukraine. Due to a greatly increased interest towards Georgia in terms of the tourism, a state agency considers Ukraine one of the  priority markets in terms of  attracting tourists.

According to reports, the number of tourists from Ukraine in 2012 amounted to 76 610 people, which was 30 % higher than in the same period in 2011. As per the data for 10 months of 2013, the number of visitors from Ukraine amounted to 106 802, which is 67 % higher than the figure for 10 months of 2012.

Source

Friday, November 29, 2013

Georgia on my mind

by Shelley Boettcher

29.11.2013. A couple of years ago, I had an incredible opportunity to travel to Georgia, thanks to my friend Alla Wagner at Lotus Vini. I wrote about my trip last fall for City Palate magazine, a food magazine based in Calgary, Canada. Since the story isn’t available online, and that issue of the magazine is no longer on newsstands, I thought I’d repost it here. Sometimes I still dream about that trip. It’s a beautiful, wonderful, friendly country and I hope to one day take my entire family there.

The scent of woodsmoke. An ancient Lada car, packed with watermelons — on the roof, in the trunk and crammed into the passenger seats. Bushels of corn lit by fall sunshine. A lamb carcass — or is it a goat? — outside a shack by the side of a gravel road. A bloodied cleaver is jammed into a butcher block beside it. Nearby, men squat and talk. Flies buzz. Then, a child’s small, smiling face, bright as a star.

I memorized everything I could see while travelling through the small towns and countryside in the republic of Georgia, a small but fierce country that borders the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north, Turkey and Armenia to the south and, in the southeast, Azerbaijan.

At every corner, it was clear that Georgia is a country of contrasts — eastern and western influences, rural and urban. The capital city, Tbilisi, features designer shops, lively bars and fancy restaurants, but a visit to the countryside is a step back in time. Everywhere I looked, I was mesmerized by Georgia’s fascinating history and its rich food and wine culture.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Georgia's tourism growing fastest

26.11.2013. The Secretary General of UN World Tourism Organization, Taleb Rifai, ranked Georgian tourism development as the best in the region. Furthermore, at the annual UNWTO & World Travel Market (WTM) Ministers' Summit held in London on 5 November 2013, it was noted that through closer coordination of tourism and aviation policies, air connectivity can be improved, resulting in sustained growth of the tourism sector.

Giorgi Sigua, Head of Georgian National Tourism Administration, also participated in the event. He met the secretary general and discussed UNWTO World Tourism Barometer that estimated the rate of growth of tourist arrivals in Georgia as the highest in Europe. Sigua made a speech at the Ministry, where he discussed trends and reforms of Georgian tourism.

He admitted that cooperation with UNWTO is crucial for Georgia, since UNWTO is a good platform for disseminating information on the country’s achievements. Sigua also underlined importance of UNWTO Tourism Highlight that ranked Georgia as one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in East and Central Europe. “This is important, for it catches the world’s attention,” said Sigua. “[UNWTO] publications are very reliable and influential information sources for the tourism industry.”

Friday, November 15, 2013

Old and new administration of tourism considers growth in the number of tourists their own merit

15.11.2013. Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration Giorgi Sigua does not agree with the statement made by his predecessor and explains the increased number of visitors by the promotional activities carried out by the government in the current year.

The former Head of the Tourism Agency Maia Sidamonidze  says that  the new government should  not consider the  increased number of  tourists as their own merits, because the strategy does not bring results in 3 months. I hope that the current leadership of the Tourism Administration does not think that the increase in the number of visitors is their merit, " - says Sidamonidze in an interview with " Business and management” magazine.

While the current administration responds to  Sidamonidze with facts and says that this year the number of tourists has increased the most from  Russia , Ukraine and Iraq due to  the advertising activities in these countries.