Friday, May 20, 2016

Tripadvisor and Georgian Tourism Board launch joint campaign

20.05.2016. Georgia’s National Tourism Administration signed a joint advertising agreement on Wednesday with travel web site Tripadvisor.

The campaign will include posts and detailed information about Georgia over the next six months.

Tripadvisor’s marketing manager Chad Shiver arrived in Georgia to discuss the terms of the agreement. Shriver said the web portal would post photos, video and banners about Georgia.

“It is my first time in Georgia, but I appreciated the beauty of Tbilisi, and I am sure the country has great potential to attract tourists from different countries,” said Shiver.

In the first phase, the advertising campaign will target ten countries including Azerbaijan, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Russia. The cost of the campaign amounts to 200,000 GEL (USD 93,000).

Monday, May 16, 2016

World Bank to help Georgia with tourism infrastructure

At Vani Archaeological Museum
16.05.2016 (Hvino News). The World Bank (WB) will allocate Georgia $9 million for the restoration of urban, municipal and tourist infrastructure in Imereti region, Western Georgia, to promote cultural and historical monuments as well as attract tourists.

Financial resources will be allocated for the additional financing of the second project of the regional development, which envisages reconstruction of Vani Archaeological Museum-Reserve and the access road to it, as well as construction of wastewater treatment plant in Tsqaltubo, Western Georgia.

Georgia joined the WB in 1992. During this time, more than 73 projects with a total value of $2.58 billion were financed.

Rehabilitation and development of tourist infrastructure is one of the main areas financed by the WB.

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Friday, April 29, 2016

Kazakh airline to start flights to Batumi

29.04.2016. Kazakh airline SCAT will start flights to Batumi in early June, according to the head of Adjara’s Tourism Department, Mamuka Berdzenishvili.

The number of Kazakh citizens travelling to Georgia in the first quarter of 2016 grew by 21 per cent, which necessitated increased air passenger traffic between the two former Soviet countries.

“For the first time in history, we will have direct flights to/from Kazakhstan. The flights will start from the beginning of June. SCAT Airlines will make flights from Kazakh city Aktau to Batumi,” said Berdzenishvili.

He also said plans are in the works to increase the number of flights to Batumi from Turkey and Belarus.

Established in 1997, SCAT Airlines’ main base is in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. The company's fleet consists of mainly western-owned aircraft and offers services to more than 80 domestic and international air routes.

According to data from the Georgian National Tourism Department, the number of tourists from Kazakhstan in Georgia in the first quarter of 2016 was 6,290, up 27 per cent from the same period last year.

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Friday, April 15, 2016

Tbilisi hosts international tourist exhibition CTF 2016

15.04.2016. Georgia’s capital Tbilisi is hosting the 18th International Tourism Fair of the Silk Road countries Caucasus Tourism Fair (CTF) 2016.

The CTF 2016, dedicated to promoting the revival of Georgian domestic tourism and foreign tourism destinations, is being held from April 14-16 at ExpoGeorgia.

Representatives from 68 tourism operators from eight countries are in Georgia to participate in the exhibition to showcase the attractiveness, sites and cultures of each country.

Georgia’s Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili and head of Georgia's National Tourism Administration (GNTA) Giorgi Chogovadze officially opened the CTF 2016 this morning.

Monday, April 11, 2016

"Vinichio Valley" project in Kakheti introduced to Georgian business representatives

11.04.2016 (Hvino News). On April 9th the International Chamber of Commerce of Georgia (ICC) organized a tour for its members to Vinichio Valley Vineyard in Kakheti (East Georgia).

Vinichio Valley is a large agricultural project by Tbilisi-based ARIC Group, which will focus on wine and food production on a 2000-hectares land plot stretching along the river Iori in Sagaredjo region of Kakheti   Map .

Local Georgian vine varieties saperavi, rkatsiteli, alexandreuli have already been partially planted on 400 hectares of land allocated for vineyards, making Vinichio one of Europe's largest projects of this type. 2017 will see the first Vinichio's harvest.

Apart of wine, Vinichio is set to produce seedless table grapes, fresh and dried fruits and nuts. It will also offer high-end facilities for wine tourism including villas and will have its own airfield for easy transportation.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

International tourism exhibition exposes Georgia as the best wine direction

26.03.2016. Georgia was named as the best wine direction at the Berlin international tourism exhibition - ITB Berlin. Moreover, Taleb Rifai, head of the UN World Tourism Organization, handed over a special award to the national tourism administration of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

At the ITB 2016 exhibition nineteen private companies and state organizations were represented from Georgia jointly with the national tourism administration.

According to the national tourism administration, at the exhibition meetings were held with international marketing and promotion agencies, reporters, bloggers, tourism service suppliers, tour operators and organizers of various exhibitions

More than 120 000 visitors attended the world’s one of the largest tourism exhibitions. The ITB 2016 hosted representatives of 187 countries.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Georgia rolls out red carpet for Chinese visitors

by Yang Feiyue

23.03.2016. A cradle of red wine, unique culture, gourmet food, ancient churches and hospitable people, Georgia is hoping to attract more Chinese to savor its diverse charms.

New flights connecting major cities like Shanghai and Beijing might be launched in future.

"Air China representatives plan to visit Georgia to explore business possibilities," says David Aptsiauri, ambassador of Georgia in China.

Already, China Southern Airlines operates direct flights from Urumqi to Georgia.

The country is also offering e-visas to encourage Chinese visitors.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

World class Crowne Plaza hotel opens in Borjomi

06.03.2016. A major project in Georgia’s south will turn the area into one of the best tourist destinations in the region.

Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili visited the Samtskhe-Javakheti region in southern Georgia yesterday to check on the progress of several projects aiming to boost the tourism potential of the area.

While there the Prime Minister opened a new five-star hotel in Borjomi, a town famous for the eponymous mineral water internationally known as a hangover cure.

Borjomi has a very strategic touristic location as it is close to Bakuriani - one of Georgia’s main skiing resorts - and the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, which is among the country’s largest protected areas.

The company behind the new hotel was global hotel chain, InterContinental Hotels Group. The company invested $32 million USD in Crowne Plaza Borjomi.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Ryanair to enter Georgia

21.02.2016. The Irish low cost airline “Ryanair” expressed an interest towards Georgian air-market, – possibilities of initiating routes to Kutaisi were discussed during the working meeting conducted by the Prime Minister of Georgia with the Chief Commercial Officer of “Ryanair” David O’Brien.

During the meeting it was noted that the growth of interest of low cost airlines to Georgia is caused by the business environment in the country, growth of the tourist flow during the recent years and the possibilities provided to the Georgian citizens by the prospects of visa liberalization with the EU.

Pursuant to David O’Brien, the working group of the airline will study operational and infrastructural capacities of the Kutaisi International Airport. He also expressed hope that the negotiations and consultations with Georgian government will lead to positive results.

“We conducted fruitful and promising meeting with the Prime Minister. Now I am in a completely different spot from Ireland, which is a great privilege to me. I hope that soon we will be able to connect this part of Europe with another” – the Chief Commercial Officer of “Ryanair” David O’Brien noted upon the termination of the meeting.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Georgian National Tourism Administration presented its 2015 report

15.02.2016. Giorgi Chogovadze, the head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, has presented a 2015 report to the public. Last year’s statistical data, realized projects, tourism strategy, marketing campaigns, international touristic exhibitions, fam tours, publications, various events and planned projects are all observed in a 42-page brochure.

In Giorgi Chogovadze’s words, in 2015 Georgia hosted an unprecedented number of foreign visitors – 5 897 685. There were representatives of close to 400 media outlets as well as 150 tour operators among them. It should also be noted that in view of the new infrastructure development, the bike parks were created in Gudauri and Bakuriani and apart from that, 1 100 representatives of touristic industry have passed retraining courses in 15 cities of Georgia.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Georgia takes action to become more attractive to tourists

30.01.2016. Georgia is intensifying its work to attract tourists from the region and the world.

The country aims to become a weekend and holiday destination for international visitors.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili yesterday met with representatives of Georgia’s tourism industry and discussed ways to increase tourist numbers to the country.

Kvirikashvili asked the tourist agencies to prepare events all throughout the year as a way to attract more regional and international tourists.

"A lot of representatives from various tourism areas have gathered here today and I would like to have, very soon, a long-term campaign which will ensure as many tourists visit Georgia as possible,” the PM said.

"We should also discuss an event calendar for the whole year to make sure there is something happening every weekend and every holiday in Tbilisi that attracts tourists from the region and far away countries.”

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Georgian airports served record number of passengers in 2015

14.01.2016. In 2015 Georgia’s Airports served a record number of passengers compared to previous years numbers.

The Aviation Agency of the Ministry of Economy published statistics showcasing that Georgian airports served 12% more passengers in 2015 than the previous year.

According to date, airports in Georgia served a record 2,261,006 passengers in 2015.

The report highlighted that usage of Georgian air space increased by 6.6% with the total number of flights reaching 123,364.

The number of regular and charter flights increased by 4.53%. Georgian airports made 11,409 regular and 2,259 charter flights in 2015.

According to statistics, almost 2 million passengers passed through Tbilisi airport, which was 17.25% more than last year, while Batumi airport served 226,476 passengers – 5.91% more than in 2014, and the airport in Mestia, in northern Georgia, hosted 232 percent more than in 2014.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Over 5 million foreigners visit Georgia in 2015

05.01.2016. Georgian tourism is once again on the rise as the latest statistics show that the number of foreign visitors has increased.

Around 6 million international arrivals were registered in Georgia since January 2015, the Information-Analytical Department (IAD) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced.

According to data, 5 897 685 people crossed the Georgian border during the previous year. This is an increase of 7% over the same period of 2014.

“The growing number of visitors (tourists, one-day visits and transit) to Georgia is important for the further development of the country’s tourism sector, as well as for increasing the inflow of foreign money,” the IAD said in a statement.

In total about half a million people visited Georgia in December 2015, which is 7 % increase to compare the same period of the last year.

According to the MIA statistics, 155,048 were tourists (6.2% more than in 2014), 89, 141 were transiting (2.2 percent more than in 2014) and 221,773 people came for other purposes (9.6 percent less than in December, 2014).

Monday, December 21, 2015

Georgia in "Condé Nast Traveler" list of "hottest wine destinations 2016"

21.12.2015 (Hvino News). Georgia is listed in "The Hottest Wine Destinations of 2016" by luxury travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler.

"The Hottest Wine Destinations of 2016" is a list compiled by Condé Nast Traveler's Laura Giannatempo, published on December 17.

The magazine reads: "We asked some of the country’s top wine experts to tell us where they’re excited to go in the New Year. What we got is the wine lover’s definitive list of regions to explore." About Georgia:

"Georgia — the former Soviet Union country, not the American state, and one of the oldest wine regions in the world — has become a wine hotspot in the past few years. The traditional Georgian method using kvevris — beautiful, amphora-type clay vessels for fermenting, storing, and aging wine underground — is now being replicated by many natural winemakers all over the world. “The land, the history, the culture, the food, the wine, the people—it was one of the most powerful wine trips I’ve ever taken,” says Pascaline Lepeltier, beverage director of Rouge Tomate Chelsea, NYC."

Thursday, December 10, 2015

The World bank: A Tourism Strategy for Georgia – “Country of Life”

10.12.2015. Observing a world map, you will see that Georgia is a small country with a strategic geographic location, resting at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. But how best to really describe it?

The country is often showcased on international television programs, such as CNN’s 9 reasons to visit Georgia now, New York Times’ 52 places to go in 2015, and National Geographic’s Best tours in Europe 2015.

There are numerous literary books and guidebooks about Georgia’s cultural heritage, nature, cuisine (wine, in particular) – all beckoning people to visit the land of the ancient Kolkhis.

Travel agencies entice potential tourists with offers, proposing air companies and routes that are convenient and friendly, and advising on a range of hotels in which to stay, routes to pursue, and places to visit – whether in the country’s famous mountains or valleys.

Perhaps Georgia is best described as the “Country of Life” – a motto coined by Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA), and which can be found on a wide variety of gifts and tourist products.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Georgia once again in focus of Vogue magazine

04.12.2015. (Hvino News). Just a couple months ago Hvino News reported about American Vogue magazine's mentioning Georgian wine on top of the Vogue's list of orange wines (read more: Vogue magazine lists Georgian Iago's Chinuri as number one orange wine).

On December 2 Georgia appears again in the focus of Vogue's attention. This time the renown magazine goes further in exploration of Georgia. Vogue published five reasons why one should visit Georgia, in the article “Why Georgia (the country) is the secret gem of Europe”.

The author Liana Satenstein starts her article with a direct call to action:
"This holiday season, forget the plane ticket to Milan. Cancel Berlin. And don’t bother with London. Instead, head to Georgia".
The first of Vogue's reasons is Georgian food and wine:
Over the past few years, a wave of Georgian restaurants have become a hit stateside... And there is no doubt about why this Eastern European cuisine has crossed the Atlantic.... Georgian wine—it’s fermented in a kvevri, a B.C. tradition that involves a clay vessel buried far underground.
Besides delicacies such as khachapuri ("bread is in the shape of a pinched boat, stuffed and baked with a traditional Georgian cheese called suluguni"), other attractions listed by Vogue include Georgian ballet, sulfur baths, and Tbilisi's architecture. A little bit oversimplified list, in our view, but anyway thanks to Vogue for covering Georgia.

We hope the readers who will visit Georgia will report many other really unique attractive features of Georgia, and discover that it is a gem indeed.

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Thursday, November 26, 2015

IFC funds one of Georgia’s first three-star branded hotels

26.11.2015.  (Hvino News). IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a $7 million loan to a wholly owned subsidiary of m2 Real Estate to build one of the first three-star internationally branded hotels in Georgia, helping create jobs, meet growing demand for quality hospitality infrastructure, and spur broader economic growth.

Tourism and travel is one of Georgia’s fastest growing sectors, and a key generator of jobs. Yet the budget and mid-market hotel segments are particularly underserved, resulting in a large gap between supply and demand. In funding the construction of a Ramada Encore Hotel in Tbilisi, IFC’s loan to JSC m2 Real Estate’s wholly owned subsidiary aims to address this gap.

”Building on our successful cooperation with IFC over years, with this new project we plan to contribute to improving Georgia’s hospitality infrastructure and cater to the growing demand for travel in the country,” said Irakli Burdiladze, Chief Executive Officer, m2 Real Estate.

The 152-room hotel is the first step in JSC m2 Real Estate’s plan to build more than 300 affordable hotel rooms in Tbilisi and, potentially, other cities of Georgia. In addition, the hotel plans to use using energy efficient technologies to reduce power use.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Georgia's wine and tourism agencies briefed journalists on first UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism

13.11.2015 (Hvino News) Yesterday in Tbilisi the the heads of the National Tourism Administration and National Wine Agency - Giorgi Chogovadze and Giorgi Samanishvili - held a joint press conference regarding the first Global Conference on Wine Tourism, planned for 2016 in Georgia.

The wine conference will be held under the auspices of United Nations's World Tourism Organization - UNWTO.

As announced last moth at UNWTO event in London, the first UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism will be held in Georgia’s Kakheti wine region on September 7-9, 2016 (read more here). The activity is part of the UNWTO Gastronomy Network plan of action.

The representatives of Georgia's wine and tourism agencies briefed the journalists at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel on the conference project details, and answered the questions.