Starting July 1, Georgia will be open to international travellers

Georgia is setting the goal of becoming the first country to open its doors to foreign tourists starting July 1 after months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s welcoming international travellers with a new slogan – ‘Georgia – Safe Destination!’.

Georgia will resume domestic tourism starting June 15 and will receive international tourists starting July 1.

“We will do this by creating a safe corridor on land borders with our neighbouring countries, as well as by bilateral negotiations with countries that are interesting for us in terms of tourism”, said Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia when presented a tourism recovery and anti-crisis plan.

Georgian Economy Minister Natia Turnava, who also participated in the presentation, said that Georgia will be promoted as a safe destination for international travellers, as an internationally acclaimed and successful country in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Earlier the world knew us as a country with an ancient hospitality tradition, now the world will recognise us as a safe country destination. We need to use the new competitive advantage that our country has acquired in the fight against the pandemic. I mean the internationally recognised success of Georgia and the completely unique experience and skills acquired by the tourism industry in providing quarantine services. A total of 83 hotels served over 19,000 people in quarantine during the pandemic and this is an enormous experience,” Turnava said.

During stage two (starting on June 15) domestic tourism resume. Gakharia said that Tskaltubo, Gudauri, Sairme, Abastumani, Borjomi and other resorts of Georgia will be announced as safe tourism zones. During stage three, Georgia will be open for international tourism.

Tourism is one of the driving sources of the Georgian economy and one of the rapidly growing industries in the country. Last year Georgia hosted almost 9.4 million visitors. A total of 150,000 people were employed in the field of tourism last year in Georgia.

Tourism’s share in the gross domestic product of Georgia was 11.5%.