The first snow has come at the winter resorts, but ski season is not yet officially opened, it is expected to start counting from December 16th.
This year expectations of local businesses are more or less optimistic, though still vague.
Vato Asatashvili, the founder of Heliski Georgia, based on his experience of the past two years, thinks that the sector has no guarantees and it can close again due to "senseless steps taken by the government".
"We do not know when the season will open, how long it will be open and how long these regulations will work. We know that they are waiting for the next wave and although they promise that there will be no strict regulations. Considering the experience of the past 2 years, the prospect of fulfilling the promises is not realistic.
In terms of international visitors, we expect it to be a problematic year. We see that our main partner countries have a difficult situation due to the pandemic, lockdowns are announced in Austria, Germany. How it will be in Switzerland and Italy, we do not know. Eastern Europe looks better in this respect, I'm talking about Poland, the Czech Republic. However, it is difficult to make a specific calculation.
On the example of my company I can say that I do not make any investment to resume operation, it is unfortunate but we are going by ourselves, if we do not have big problems in terms of management from mid-January and pandemic restrictions do not apply, we can talk about low load operation. We canceled the year, so this year will be canceled as well.
"As for pre-bookings, in our case we sold bookings from spring to summer. This year we have stopped all sales and our websites are disconnected. Selling something today is madness because the season can fail due to the government's senseless steps," Asatashvili said.
The founder of "Heliski Georgia" predicts that the number of international travelers to winter resorts will be recovered at 20-25% of 2019 levels. As for the cost, the tourists will see a price increase of 20% on average.
“This summer, we were able to regenerate 30% of 2019 levels. As for the winter season, I think it will be a worse result. There will be progress in terms of domestic consumption in the local market again and again due to the fact that they cannot travel freely and it will become an additional source of income for Georgian businesses. But in terms of international visitors, if we reach 20-25%, it will be considered a positive indicator.
Prices are quite rising and expensive, including in terms of accommodation. In the peak period before the New Year I think prices will be high, but after the New Year, a decrease is inevitable. Artificially grown price have their own reasons, business players have no guarantee that they will be fully operational during the season, so they want to get maximum revenue in a short period of time and still offset costs. This is not their whim; this is the process of survival. Prices will be high but after the first peak period, from January 8 the prices will go down and offers will exceed the demand.
It is difficult to set the exact coefficient but if we compare with 2019, there is an inflation and GEL devaluation. So, the growth in 2021 compared to 2019 is around 15-20%. Against the background of the economic crisis, this is a rather high cost and an extra luxury for the average Georgian tourist," Asatashvili said.
