The government allocated up to 8 million GEL for tourism recovery in 2021.
Bm.GE asked the experts of the sector if the money is enough for tourism recovery in 2021.
The small budget raises questions for Giorgi Dartsimelia, chairman of Certified Guides Association, while Kakha Samkurashvili, Senior Analyst at Galt & Taggart, explains that tourism will not recover on a large scale this year, especially COVID-restrictions in the economy are continued until February 1.
"I cannot explain why the government has reduced the budget. Now we have to attract tourists with doubled resources. We should increase the funds for promotion. I cannot find an explanation of why the budget should be reduced," said Dartsimelia.
Kakha Samkurashvili declares, that the government aims at tourists coming from neighboring countries and advertising there does not need large sums. To him, if the government spends a total of 200 million GEL on attraction tourists from distant countries, it will not work either, because people are not ready for travel.
"The money spent on marketing will not have a big effect. It is better to distribute the funds in the coming years," - said Samkurashvili.
