Batumi
erstudio / DepositPhotos
Batumi
Dimanikin / DepositPhotos
Georgia prepares from June 15 to open the tourist season in the country, and from July 1 to accept travelers from abroad, including from Russia. It is planned to place them in the “green zones”, where there were no recorded cases of infection with coronavirus.
The head of the National tourism administration Mariam Kvrivishvili reported that one of the first “green zones” can be Adzharia, highland municipalities, which are not affected coronavirus. Hotels of Adjara was dedicated to the quarantine zone that, in the opinion of Kvrivishvili helped them to implement a strong safety standards, according to the portal “Georgia Online”.
Georgia is already negotiating with other countries about the arrival of tourists on the “safety corridors,” waiting for recommendations from the world tourism organization. “The interest already expressed by Israel, there is interest from Austria, also for a long time there is interest from neighboring countries, and we want to cooperate in this direction”, – said the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia.
The Minister of economy and sustainable development of the Republic Natia Turnava said that Russia is the creation of “safety corridors” is not discussed, but “as before, tourists from Russia are an important part of the total number of our guests.” “Today our country is ready to accept everybody, including the Russians, with all the security measures”, – quotes its TASS.
In Federation of hotels and restaurants in Georgia are not too optimistic, on the contrary, do not consider the reception of the Russians at this stage, reports Sputnik Georgia. “Tourists from Russia can arrive, but we really don’t know what the situation is in Russia, so do not even hope to take tourists from there,” said the founder of the Federation Shalva Alaverdashvili. For tourists from Europe, in his view, the count is not worth it, and the jump in domestic tourism.
According to Alaverdashvili, the list of countries that are partners of Georgia from the point of view of tourism this year, small: this is Israel, Kazakhstan, South Korea. Up to 5 million packages in Georgia sold in Israel and Thailand, in Korea, to over 3 million. “Today, these people begin to rebuild, to July 1, to plan tours to Georgia, but this income is a drop in the sea. 2020 – the year of survival,” – said the expert.
The tourism industry of Georgia has been affected by the pandemic coronavirus hardest, losing 70% of revenue. According to the forecast of Alaverdashvili, income from tourism will not be until June 2021, and only in 2022 it is possible to return to the indicators of 2019. In 2019 for the first time in the history of Georgia, the number of international visitors has exceeded 9.3 million, they brought the country $ 3.3 billion in revenue, which is 1.4% more compared to 2018.
In Georgia because of the pandemic, COVID-19 from March 21 to 22 may there is a regime of emergency. Daily from 21:00 about 06:00 curfews. 11 may Tbilisi, the boundaries of which have been closed since April 15, on Monday opened for entry and exit, reports TASS. At the entrances to the Georgian capital duty police and military, which measure the temperature of all arriving. According to the latest data, the country reported a total of 638 cases of coronavirus, 317 recovered, 11 died.