Government Holds High Hopes for More Tourism THe Messenger, April 25, 2005, By M. Alkhazashvili 25.04.2005 "Visa-free travel and new flights, including Lufthansa, make getting here and back easier" On April 21-23, the Seventh International Caucasus Tourism Fair 2005 was held in the Tbilisi Exhibition Center, Expo-Georgia. In addition to local companies, representatives from the United States, Austria, Turkey, Italy, Armenia and Ukraine participated. In his welcoming speech, the head of the Georgian government's tourism department Saba Kiknadze highlighted what he sees as several improvements in the tourism market of Georgia. He mentioned improvements in the legislation system, more active marketing and the participation of different companies and countries in the tourism expo, and finally he praised Georgia's participation in other tourism fairs abroad. Kiknadze envisages an increase in tourists to Georgia by 25-30 percent in 2005 and noted that last year 15,000 tourists visited the country and this year they expect 20,000 to 25,000 visitors, reports Rezonansi. The Georgian Tourism Department led by Kiknadze is paying special attention to restoring old links and contacts with the former Soviet Union countries, a strategy based on the soviet past when Georgia was one of the most popular tourist attractions for the population of the USSR. The government has already started exploring the development of tourism activities between Georgia and Ukraine. In September, Yalta will host a conference on rural tourism under the aegis of European Union at which Georgian tourism and wine companies are invited to participate. Georgian wines and images of agricultural tourism will be on display. Meanwhile the cancellation of visas for citizens of developed countries and additional flights to Tbilisi stand to make getting here substantially easier for visitors. Last Monday, the head of the Georgian Civil Aviation Administration Giorgi Mzhavanadze said the German airline Lufthansa is to begin operating Tbilisi-Munich flights from June. In recent months, British Airways has increased the number of flights to London and back to three per week; Turkish airlines doubled fights to Istanbul to four per week. In addition, President Mikheil Saakashvili recently announced that the visa regime for citizens from EU countries, the United States, Canada, Israel and Japan, arguing that the increased revenue from additional tourists would far outweigh the lost proceeds from annulled visa fees. <<Previous Back to NEWS archive Next>>