TURKEY OR ADJARA? – DOMESTIC TOURISM FACING NEW CHALLENGE
Nino Sikhuashvili
Georgian Business Week
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
As the summer season is heating up, local travel agencies and villa
owners at Georgia’s Black Sea resorts say they are becoming restless.
Forecasts say that Georgians will continue flocking to Turkish resorts
as they have in recent years, creating a major headache for domestic
tour operators who say that last August’s war with Russia and the
global financial crisis has made them increasingly dependent on
domestic tourism.
"Georgian tourists prefer going on holidays to Turkey," tour manager
of Adjara Tour Tea Tsaguria told GBW. "60 percent of our customers
are going to Turkey this year."
Tsaguria said that Turkish resorts compete Georgian beach resorts
with their lower prices and higher level of service.
A 3-star hotel in Batumi, the regional center of Adjara, costs around
70 USD per night. It only includes breakfast while 3-star hotel in
say Antalia cots 40 USD and includes all meals.
Voyage, a 3-star hotel in Batumi, is complaining of small number
of tourists. Hotel manager Gulnaz Ghlonti says that the demand here
almost halved compared to last year.
"All the rooms were already reserved for July and August at this
time last year while we do not have a single reservation this year,"
he told GBW.
Ghlonti is trying to adapt to the new trends on the market and decided
to cut prices on a single-room from 100-120 GEL to 70-80 GEL. But
this price does not include breakfast.
"We do not plan to further slash the prices as we still believe the
holiday-makers will come to us as many still prefer to spend holidays
in their homeland because of language difficulties," he said.
But Georgian vacationers are not the only ones to change their mind —
Armenian tourists are also heading for Turkey.
Adjara Tour’s Tea Tsaguria says that her company brought 400 Armenian
tourists last year. The agency contacted Armenian tour operators this
year but said that no reservations came from Armenia as its customers
are also bound for Turkey.
"The management of Georgian hotels will have to review their
prices and cut them back if they want to have Georgian and foreign
holiday-makers," she says.
Georgia’s Department of Tourism and Resorts says that the number
of tourists in the Adjara region fell 19 percent in 2008 to around
28,000. Last year was expected to be a profitable tourist year if not
the August war. The Department had projected 50 percent growth in 2008.
The number of total visitors in Georgia increased 23 percent last
year compared to the year before but tourists within this number fell
90 percent.
Between July 1 and August 1 of last year 155,309 visitors from 129
countries crossed Georgia’s borders, according to official statistics.
The majority of the visitors – 35,737 came from Armenia, while visitors
from Azerbaijan made up 34,567, and the number of Turkish tourists was
34,289. The remaining number of the visitors mostly came from Russia,
Ukraine, Greece, German, Great Britain, Iran, Netherlands and Poland.
According to tour operators, the number of tourists from other
countries is also declining. Caucasus Travel’s manager Keti
Aspindzelashvili told GBW that their orders dropped almost 50 percent
compared to last year.
"Some countries imposed certain restrictions on travel for safety
considerations. Among them is Holland and Japan."
Caucasus Travel chiefly focuses on tourists from Europe, the U.S. and
Japan.
All the companies note that the August war brought serious financial
damage but would not disclose exact figures.
Despite domestic political instability and the continuing financial
crisis, Georgia’s Department of Tourism and Resorts expects 200,000
vacationers this year against approximately 350,000 in 2007. They hope
some planned entertainment events will draw the tourists, including
Batumi’s Jazz festival, the International Film Festival and others.
Unlike hotels and travel agencies individual villa owners are
optimistic saying they already see good signs.
Lika, a resident of Kobuleti, who asked not to be named, told GBW
that she has already rented out five rooms. She says she is content
with the number of guests. At this time last year she did not have
a single guest.
Lika says she believes that the reason behind this good start is the
financial crisis and high rates in Georgian hotels. "Those who want
to spend holidays home would opt for private guesthouses as they are
by far more affordable than hotels."
Nino Gobejishvili, 30, is among them who rented a room in Kobuleti in
the last two years. She says that there is wide choice of accommodation
at such private villas in Kobuleti.
A night stay in such villas per person costs 5 GEL in June and jumps
to 10-15 GEL in August.
Medea Janiashvili, the Head of Tourism Department’s Planning and
Development Section, says that it is important to maintain a stable
image to overcome the difficulties in the Georgian tourism industry.
"We have invited a number of foreign journalists who will write
articles about Georgia. Besides, we actively participate in various
international tourist exhibitions," Janashvili told GBW.