Business Tourism Potential in Georgia
The National Tourism Administration of Georgia plans to foster business tourism development in 2019, and especially in 2020, Mariam Kvrivishvili, head of the National Tourism Administration of Georgia said.
As part of this strategy, on October 30, Georgia will host an unprecedented large-scale event in the business tourism field, she noted.
Invited by the National Tourism Administration, for the first time in Georgia, the top managers of the biggest travel companies of Asia and the Far East, will arrive in the country, Kvrivishvili noted.
The mentioned event will enable the domestic tourism industry to develop business tourism field and attract how-budget tourists to the country, Mariam Kvrivishvili added.
Business tourism attracts high-budget tourists in all countries, and this direction is taking their first steps in Georgia. Therefore, the promotion of this segment is one of the priority tasks for the National Tourism Administration in 2019 and 2020, Mariam Kvrivishvili said.
“Business tourism is a valuable segment of the economy, and it attracts visitors with the highest solvency all over the world, including in Georgia. Therefore, we have decided to take active steps in 2019, and especially in 2020, so together with our private sector, deliver and bring in international events, conferences, forums and various arrangements to Georgia. The challenge is that we should look more at the sector of business tourism. Today, this product is being developed. Therefore, we organize events like the one that is scheduled for the 30th of October. This event will bring efficient results in 1-2 years. For instance, in terms of business tourism, this year was exceptionally active. We have attended many forums, conferences, tourism exhibitions. We have also hosted many travel companies in Georgia to help to introduce our products and increase the awareness of Georgia, connect the foreign private sector with our private sector”, Kvrivishvili noted.
An October 30 event enable Georgian companies to meet and set up contacts with worldwide famous tour operators, because the representatives of 34 major travel companies attending the event will come from China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia. As part of the 4-day event, representatives of major international travel companies will receive information about Georgia’s tourism potential, and visit various regions of Georgia, see local infrastructure opportunities and Georgian tourism products, Kvrivishvili noted.
“The October 30th event is a major and unprecedented. For the first time in the history of Georgia, such important countries are represented in Georgia as Korea, Singapore, China and so on. We have invited these people to introduce them to the domestic private sector, and enable our sector to gain access to these precious contacts. The National Tourism Administration has arranged a subdivision, the Convention Bureau, which unites members from various accredited travel companies according to international standards, including travel agencies, event organizers, transport and hotels; in practice we cover the whole industry, and we give full freedom as part of a one-day format to meet each other and sell their products on foreign markets. We arrange introductory tours for these people, to help them see all of our infrastructure, logistics, and locations with opportunities for arranging major events and projects”, Mariam Kvrivishvili said.
We count each Tetri received from these investments in marketing campaigns, and this is a significant amount, even more when these campaigns have long-term effects, Kvrivishvili noted.
“We measure all our campaigns. The most valuable part of marketing is that all marketing activities are measurable. We measure our activities based on each GEL and each Tetri, we count the proceeds from investments put in marketing activities, because we manage the state budget and therefore are obliged to describe the whole process. Today, we can open the information that each GEL spent on the German market in January-September has earned 46.7 GEL. This is a very high indicator, by all investment standards. There are various indicators on various markets. We have higher figures on the Saudi market. We have two-digit figures on the Baltic market”, Mariam Kvrivishvili noted.
Investment proceeds are measured based on how many visitors have arrived in the country from this or that market, and how much they have spent. It is of crucial importance that marketing campaigns bring long-term effects, Kvrivishvili noted.
“We should take into account that these marketing campaigns bring long-term effects. Consequently, we expect that these campaigns will have a real effect in the next few years, as well. There are markets where decisions are made rapidly, and there are other markets, where similar decisions need 8 months. Consequently, this has a continuous effect, and we expect these campaigns to more of an effect in 2020, in terms of the number of tourists and revenues”, Mariam Kvrivishvili said.