Travel industry already submitted a “Five-Point” Plan For Tourism Recovery to the government of Georgia.
According to the private sector’s plan, winter resorts must open from February 1. The business operators declare, that virus transmission will no longer be high, as equipped people do not pose a threat of virus transmission.
Moreover, mountain resort hotels can comply with the regulations as well as hotels in Kakheti or other regions where high mobility is observed but epidemiological conditions are not worsened in the country.
The plan presented by the tourism sector also considers the safety rules, according to which Georgia should open both land and air borders to the visitors. The business believes that similar rules should be applied to Georgian citizens, as the country can open outbound tourism.
A representative of the tourism sector, tour operator and head of the hotel "Mtatsminda" says that the recommendations of the sector are based on the best opening practices of the successful countries. Irakli Gvenetadze cites examples of tourism opening and criticizes the Georgian government for inaction.
"They declare flights will resume from February 1, but neither the hotel nor the restaurant will work. How and why the tourist will arrive no one knows. This is completely absurd. Our 5-point plan includes all the components that are considered in one context”, Gvenetadze notes.
According to the head of hotel "Mtatsminda", visitors from the EU countries can travel with regulations and they are not locked.
“Our plan is based on practical data from countries where this has worked. For example, Turkey opened the country on August 10 last year and received a million tourists in a month and a half. Why did Turkey succeed and we failed? The Canary Islands received 3 million tourists in 2020 and are still critical, we could get 4 million and why did we lose that 1 million… Everyone tries escape the massive, irreversible process of bankruptcy, excluding us.
Batumi and Tbilisi airports are operated by TAV Georgia, a Turkish management company. We must just ask them and in two days we will have the same high-quality airport that Antalya and Istanbul have today. There is no desire and that is alarming.
I hope for the wisdom of the government, because there is a threat of social explosion, which is not less than COVID. No one can stop the people suffering in the bank's debts," said Irakli Gvenetadze.
