Nika Anjapharidze, the founder of Wehost, a managing company of Airbnb in Georgia declares, that focusing on competition between Airbnb and hotels is not relevant when there are no tourists in the country. He told BM.GE.
The point is that the Minister of Economy announced that the National Tourism Administration is conducting an in-depth analysis of the challenges in the sector. Levan Davitashvili notes that one of the challenges is in the supply-demand segment, which is partly caused by the increased number of beds. The minister said that the competition between Airbnb and hotels is also a challenge for industry representatives. "Therefore, hotel facilities may have certain dissatisfaction, but this has its explanation," Davitashvili stated.
Nika Anjapharidze tells BM.GE that this statement is just self-justification.
"Airbnb has been in competition with the hotel sector from the beginning, but what's happening now cannot be blamed on Airbnb. It's self-justification. There are no tourists, so what does Airbnb have to do with it," said Anjapharidze.
The founder of Wehost also assesses the current season and says that bookings in Tbilisi have dropped this season and apartments are being rented at minimal prices with the hope that someone will still rent the apartment under low-price conditions.
