AMID WAR, GEORGIA’S TOURISM INDUSTRY DOWN, BUT NOT OUT
Molly Corso

EurasiaNet
Aug 20 2008
NY

Call it a case of supremely bad timing. Among the economic casualties
of the war with Russia are not only Georgia’s ports and energy
transportation grid, but its summer tourism industry, once considered
an engine for economic growth. Despite the dimming prospects for
a rapid Russian pullout, Georgian tourism officials and industry
professionals retain hope that the damage done to the sector can be
repaired relatively quickly.

Over the past few years, the Georgian government has poured millions of
lari into developing the country’s tourism potential. Over a million
visitors – a figure that combines tourists with business travelers
– came to Georgia in 2007, according to official figures. As one
foreign consultant commented, tourism in Georgia was on the brink of
"becoming a really big deal."

When fighting with Russia broke out on August 8, though, that bright
picture suddenly turned dark. Approximately 10,000 tourists have left
Georgia over the past 10 days, the government estimates. And officials
expect the number of both leisure and business visitors to remain
low for the foreseeable future. "This conflict and this emergency
situation has very negatively influenced tourism," said Beka Jakeli,
head of the tourism department.

Despite a recent withdrawal agreement, Russian soldiers still control
key Georgian cities, including Gori and the Black Sea port of Poti,
and have blocked the country’s only east-west highway. Their armored
vehicles often cruise the seaside highway linking Poti with Georgia’s
main Black Sea tourism hub, Batumi, scaring away both Georgians and
foreigners from the west coast’s most favored vacation spots.

No hard and fast number has been put on lost tourism revenue as yet,
but for hotels and tour operators, the conflict could not have come
at a worse time. August is Georgia’s peak tourist season, when life in
Tbilisi slows to a snail’s pace as families – and visiting foreigners
— head en masse for the Black Sea coast or the mountains.

In the Black Sea beach town of Ureki, some 10 kilometers south of Poti,
Eldorado Hotel manger Zurab Morchuvadze says that "practically no one"
is left at his establishment, one of the town’s most popular. The hotel
had been fully booked through August, with 70 percent of the guests
from Armenia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and other countries, he said.

But three days into the conflict, when Russia bombed Poti’s port,
those guests started to go.

"[W]e are close to Poti and [we could] hear when the explosions took
place. It was not very pleasant," Morchuvadze said. "The population
was in a panic."

While no immediate plans exist to close the hotel, Morchuvadze
worries that if Russia’s occupation of Georgian territory continues
for an extended period, hoteliers and other entrepreneurs who cater
to tourists will have no choice but to shut down. Those who now show
up to swim are locals, and they do not stay for long. "No one knows
what will happen. Today Russian forces came to Poti, took some things
and arrested people. Of course [that scares people]," Morchuvadze
told EurasiaNet on August 19. "We are not ready to close the hotel,
but if this continues, we will have to close down."

Reviving tourism promises to be a daunting challenge. Jakeli, the
tourism department head, suggested that a massive PR campaign would
be needed in 2009 to dispel the negative publicity generated by the
conflict. A million-dollar marketing initiative called "Europe Started
Here," launched before the outbreak of hostilities, could serve as
a starting point.

The resilience of international hotel chains that had launched
ventures in Batumi and Tbilisi is another source of hope for tourism
officials. So far, none of the chains have backed out of their
multi-million dollar development deals, according to Jakeli. "All
these brands are still under construction," he said.

Nonetheless, the negative publicity has already made its mark, notes
one American consultant active in Georgia’s tourism campaign. "This
kind of publicity worldwide, will make your average, non-adventure
tourist at least think twice before coming to Georgia," said Mark
Rein Hagen, the former director of the tourism department’s office
of strategy and communications.

Safety guarantees will be key to any kind of tourism revival, believes
Ia Tabagari, general manager for Tbilisi’s Caucasus Travel agency,
one of Georgia’s oldest tour operators. The agency had roughly 150
foreign tourists in Georgia at the time of the conflict and "numerous"
bookings for the next few months, Tabagari said. They are now faced
with a 50-percent cancellation rate. "[W]e need real guarantees of
security," she said. "I believe they [tourists] will come, but it
will take a long time to [for tourism to] recover."

According to PR consultant Hagen, it will all come down to the
country’s ability to market itself once the conflict is over. "[[I]t
takes a while for that impression to die," he said of the war scenes
now shaping most foreign news coverage of Georgia. "But, literally,
once Russian soldiers are off Georgian territory, I think things
will go back to normal very, very quickly, especially for tourism
purposes… It’s a PR game."