Since the start of the summer tourist season, the weather has been bad at the seaside resorts. The panic caused by the explosion of the Kakhovka dam is accompanied by the rains, due to which the number of tourists in the region is lower than expected. Batumi copes with more or less challenges, while in other resort cities, they say that the occupancy rate of hotels does not exceed 20%, and the demand is for budget rooms. Khatuna Lagazidze, the founder of the Kolkhida Resort & Spa Hotel, spoke about the current trends and challenges in the Black Sea region in the TV-program "Business Morning".
"Judging by the bookings, the expectations for the remaining half of July and August are not very favorable. Last year allowed creating excessive expectations, that's why most of the entrepreneurs took bank loans, today the situation is changed, private businesses will not be able to pay the budget expenses, as well as pay the bank loans. This year we have to pay salary, budgetary and credit debt and we have to work on the minimum profit margin", she said.
In addition, Khatuna Lagazidze spoke about the canceled bookings and noted that after the explosion of the Kakhovka dam, the bookings from Central Asia actually stopped.
"70% of the bookings were from Georgians, the remaining 30% were guests from neighboring countries and mainly from Central Asia, however, after the dam explosion, bookings from Central Asia actually stopped. The owners of shops, restaurants and hotels in the Black Sea will say that during the last 10 years, the Black Sea does not remember such a reduced activity", she added.
