Georgia expects half a million tourists

The world crisis has damaged the tourist industry in general, and the August war has brought additional problems for Georgia. However the state tourist department envisages that around half a million tourists will be attracted into Georgia in the coming season.

The department plans to spend a large amount of money to promote Georgian tourism. It will participate in 15 tourist exhibitions and media tours will be arranged for foreign journalists, mostly from those countries which can provide the greatest number of potential tourists to Georgia. Popular international TV channels will also be running advertising clips about Georgia.

Adjara is expected to attract the greatest number of tourists in summer 2009, approximately 400,000. Over the last two years around USD 200 million has been invested in the Adjara tourist infrastructure.

There are several factors however which hinder the further development of tourism. The first is the world financial crisis, the second is the unstable political situation in the country and the third is the high price of hotels and services in both summer and winter resorts. Georgia has many interesting tourist sites to offer holidaymakers, but to realize its potential the tourist business should develop a more appropriate culture based around what holidaymakers realistically expect to pay for.