Georgia attempting to maintain its tourist image

After the Rose Revolution tourism was declared a priority industry for Georgia and every year progress was visible in this sector. The Russian aggression in 2008 damaged Georgia’s tourist image and destroyed the summer season but by winter things had slightly improved. The Georgian authorities hope that in the near future they will be able to restore the country’s image considerably.

Officially Georgia was visited by 368,000 tourists in 2004. In 2005 it received 560,000, in 2006 983,000 and in 2007-1.3 million. Even if we are skeptical about these exact figures the positive tendency is clear. The tourist infrastructure was also improving: more tourist hotels, routes, attractions and sights were being offered by private businessmen, local or foreign. The state also tried to help the industry by building roads, improving police efficiency and so on.

Tourists to Georgia mostly come from Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the UAE, Germany, France and Turkey and a few come from other countries. Georgia offers them cultural religious, wine, mountain, and business tours. Unfortunately though the Russian aggression gave Georgia the label of a tourism danger zone, for example, in France Georgia was included on the list of 11 dangerous countries for tourists, alongside Somalia, Iraq and Colombia.

Georgia has become quite well known to the rest of the world but this is because of the negative things happening in the country. Both the state and private businessmen should therefore do their best to ensure the improvement of Georgia’s tourist image.