Tourism on the rise in South Caucasus

Tourism on the rise in South Caucasus

According to The Telegraph, Azerbaijan and Georgia are among the top 10 countries with developing tourism. Georgia is the fifth and Azerbaijan is in the ninth place in the list of ten countries with the fastest growth in the sector of tourism in the form of GDP.

The flow of tourists in the South Caucasus is dynamically growing. Thus, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), only during the first three months the number of foreign tourists in Georgia exceeded 1.1 million people, increasing the share of tourism in the form of GDP to 19.4%. The result was recorded before the beginning of the traditional summer season, Sputnik Georgia reports.

In 2015 Georgia was visited by about million 901,100 foreigners. It is 7% more than in 2014, including 926,100 Russian citizens (an increase of 14.1% per year), this year we expect more. Revenues to the state budget in this sector also continue to increase. In 2015 they amounted to more than $1.9 billion. It is $148 million more in comparison with the previous year.

Russia is in the fourth position after Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia, according to the number of people who visited Georgia in the first quarter of 2016. When planning the May holidays, the majority of Russian tourists who are is looking for an alternative to Turkish resorts decided to choose Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. According to various sources, the popularity of these countries is within 16-86%.

Executive director at the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Maya Lomidze said in an interview with a 'Vestnik Kavkaza' correspondent that the South Caucasus countries are attractive for Russian as: "there are appropriate infrastructure and a wide variety of leisure options: both for those who love beach holidays and for active recreation – excursion, educational, gastronomic with a large number of interactive programs.

Speaking about the pricing of travel agencies, the executive director at ATOR stressed that it remained the same despite the great changes in the industry: "Despite the fact that the increase of the traffic volume increased the number of flights also increased. It means that there is a significant increase in tourist flow than a few years ago. However, the total cost is still too high.

Political scientist Rovshan Ibrahimov drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the development of tourism, as it is one of the main alternatives to the oil industry. According to him, the country's participation in major events such as the Eurovision Song Contest contributed to the rapid development of the tourism sector in Azerbaijan.

At the same time he pointed out that the growth of the tourist flow in Azerbaijan is related to its popularity among people of Russia and Iran.

"As Russian tourists have no opportunity to travel to Egypt and Turkey they began to find new directions. Baku in one of these directions because there are all climatic conditions and the Caspian sea. We shouldn't  forget that the Azerbaijan citizens speak Russian. As for Iranian tourists they consider that Azerbaijan is a path to Europe,'' the analyst pointed out.

The head of the Centre for Global Studies, Nana Devdariani, noted first of all that the support of tourist attractions, in particular, in the framework of the larger program "Made in Georgia'', speaking about the Georgian authorities' support. This is a significant help," she said.

External factors also contribute to the development of this sector of the country. "In view of the events in the Middle East many resorts are not available for Russian tourists thsat is why the flow of tourists from Russia is growing," the expert explained.

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