Georgia, the abundantly rich and beyond the lovely country in Europe, is rebooting its travel status. Tourism is a major driving force in the economy of Georgia, and why not?; surrounded by the magnificent Caucasus Mountains, this country is a rare natural gem that people recently discovered. Just in 2020, Georgia earned a billion in tourism revenue, after entertaining 9.4 million visitors to the country. Georgia’s tourism industry numbered 150,000 employees in 2020, with tourism contributing 11.5% of the gross national revenue.
Georgia is rebooting to restore safe travel
for people.
What Does This Mean To You?
What this means to you is that Georgia has demonstrated its intent to open up its doors to travel in a big way. Even during the Delta COVID-19 Covid-19 scare, Georgia has gone ahead and resumed domestic tourism, on the 15th of June. The country has created is creating land borders with neighbouring countries to prevent unauthorized, untested incoming aliens who might carry the infection. Georgia is further in the processing of building a safe corridor for travellers, thus minimizing to minimize social contact. Bilateral negotiations are taking place with neighbours to increase tourism as well, which is great news to the traveller longing to visit this beautiful country.
Georgia’s Covid-19 Safety Standards and Protocol
The COVID-19 pandemic has left the international tourism and hospitality industries in a huge quandary. Georgia’s answer to this is to bank on the country’s ancient tradition of hospitality, by updating hospitality services with quarantine and prevention services. Economy Minister, Natia Turnava, said during a recent conference (all with all Georgian tourism sector representatives)that the country’s hospitality industry has understood how to cater to travellers safely. During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and quarantine time, 19,000 people were taken care of by 83 hotels within Georgia successfully, without any spread or breakout of the virus.
Georgia is incorporating safety standards in stages, as follows:
Stage 1: By the 1st of June, safety standards are to be incorporated at airports and border crossings. This will involve:
- Training and introduction of standards to private sector employees.
- Air carriers to resume operations after safety standard training and negotiations.
- Putting in place safe and fully monitored corridors between countries.
- Georgia is being integrated within the body of EU Member State Cooperation. This will enable the country to more effectively set its travel norms and safety guidelines across borders.
Stage 2: Stage 2 is planned to begin on June 15, and aims to resume domestic tourism by setting in place safe tourism zones. The idea is that the success of domestic travel will dictate the success of international travel.
Stage 3: Stage 3 will see Georgia open and welcoming of international tourism, as follows:
- Georgia to set to open both air and land borders to set up a safe corridor.
- Flights, domestic at this point, will be gradually resumed.
Georgia is working closely with World Health Organization (WHO) to make sure that the Georgian tourism industry will abide by strict COVID-19 Covid-19 safety guidelines. A special approach is needed to restore one of Georgia’s main bread and butter strategies before major economical backlashes occur.
ConclusionSo Georgia is now getting ready to welcome tourists. Follow the progress of their operations and stay tuned for further updates. Georgia is also tackling specific key policy challenges within the tourism industry. Their intent is not just to overcome existing problems and challenges, but also to promote a much better tourism infrastructure for the future. These policy declarations were adopted at the 112th session of the Executive Council of the UNWTO. This event was attended by delegates from Portugal, Greece, Spain, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and other countries.
