“Marketing expenditures on tourism are necessary, but today, if these funds are spent on vaccination campaign, will be more effective for the country to catch up with others and leave the so-called “Red Zone”, - Kakha Samkurashvili, Senior Analyst of Galt & Taggart declares.
According to him, any funds spent on tourism marketing will be less effective this year, as there are some categories of travelers who simply will not travel now.
"We should spend as little as possible on marketing, because even one lari spend today is much less than the amount spend in March 2022, because I think that by this time these threats will be overcome and we will have other data. Today, we must spend the money for special purposes,” Samkurashvili said.
The National Tourism Administration is spending GEL 3.3 million on the country's marketing strategy this year. According to a senior analyst at Galt & Taggart, this is not a large amount, but there is no need to spend more.
"People's mood is low amid pandemic, so marketing activities cannot help it. I do not think this amount is too large, but I do not see the need to spend more," - said Samkurashvili.
As for the purpose, the analyst believes that spending money in the EU does not make much sense.
"Perhaps the target market should be the nearest neighbors and the countries from which the vaccinated citizens come, this is where the money should be redirected for marketing," - said Samkurashvili.
