First Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Dimitry Kumsishvili held a meeting with the Saudi Arabia National Carrier, the Flynas Director General, Bander Abdulrahman Al-Mohanna. The Flynas will launch direct flights to the three large Saudi Arabian cities - Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah, starting June, this year. Direct flight to-from Tbilisi will be conducted three times a week.
As it was noted during the meeting, the interest toward Georgia as a tourist destination has been increased recently within the countries of the Gulf, which also include Saudi Arabia since the tourist flow to Georgia in 2017, compared to the previous year, was increased by 61%.
Director General of the Flynas noted that that the flights will be implemented from the three largest cities of Saudi Arabia since the interest in the country toward Georgia as a unique tourist destination is huge. It was noted that the marketing campaign is to be provided in Saudi Arabia, in order to further increase the number of tourists from this country.
Director of the JSC United Airports of Georgia of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Ketevan Aleksidze and the Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration, Giorgi Chogovadze also attended the meeting.
The national carrier of Saudi Arabia began operations in February 2007 under the name of ‘Nas Air’. In November 2013, it changed the name to the Flynas, and currently owns 31 aircrafts. The airline operates in 35 directions. The Voyager will represent the Flynas in Tbilisi.
In 2017, Georgia hosted 56 252 citizens of Saudi Arabia, which is by 176% higher number compared to 2016. According to the data of the first three months of 2018, 3 406 citizens of Saudi Arabia has already arrived in Georgia, which is the increase by 82% compared to the same period of last year.
