Keti Bochorishvili, former Deputy Minister of Economy considered with Business Morning how to recover tourism and economy.
As she explains, all countries have their own strategy and Georgia must not take Germany or France as an example, the country must work out its own plan.
“The advantage of the small country is that you can cover the whole country and give COVID-19 jabs to everyone. If we want to get back to the pre-pandemic level, vaccination is the first priority," said Keti Bochorishvili.
She has cited the example of the United Arab Emirates, where tourism has recovered and this country is one of the most successful amid pandemic.
"What happened in the Emirates? The country has vaccinated a high percentage of the population and opened its economy for international travelers. If the average hotel occupancy is 37% worldwide, the figure equals 58% in the United Arab Emirates, which is quite high in the current situation. The number of international travels is down by 75%. However, Emirates and Dubai have managed to attract tourists from all over the world. As a result, investments also increased. The country turned the challenges into opportunities. Those tourists, who did not come to Dubai before or spent only 1-2 days there, now come for a longer time," said Keti Bochorishvili.
According to her, vaccination does not mean that the country must ease all COVID-related regulations, including the wearing of facemasks.
