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Tourists ‘massively cancel spring hotel reservations in Tbilisi in response to COVID-19 anxieties’
Tourists have massively cancelled spring hotel reservations in Georgian capital Tbilisi because of the coronavirus outbreak, head of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Georgia, Shalva Alaverdashvili, has said, according to Trend news agency reports citing Georgian media. Georgia's tourism industry is already dealing with the impact of a flight ban announced by Russia last July in retaliation for anti-Kremlin demonstrations in Tbilisi and aggressive anti-Moscow sentiments expressed on air by a television presenter.
According to Alaverdashvili, March should be the month when the tourist flow to Georgia picks up in earnest. He added that many customers were demanding the return of their money on pre-paid reservations, something which he said was not possible.
The association concluded that the Georgian tourism industry was on the verge of a serious crisis.
“Over the past 5-6 days, 80%-90% of the reservations for March and April were cancelled. This means that the industry is almost on the verge of bankruptcy,” said Alaverdashvili, expressing the hope that an action plan to counter the crisis would be developed by the authorities.
All the infected people are Georgian citizens who recently arrived home from abroad.
9.1.5 Infrastructure and construction sector news
Georgia’s government knocks out consortium contracted to build Anaklia deep sea port but flagship infrastructure should still be built
Though Georgia’s government has torpedoed the consortium it asked to build a $2.5bn flagship deep-sea port on the Black Sea coast, there are few politicians in the small country that would openly declare that the long prized infrastructure ambition should be dropped—especially with the Georgian general election coming up later this year.
The prospect of building the port not only helps spread the feelgood factor among Georgians wanting affirmation that their country at the crossroads of Europe and Asia has solid economic growth prospects. It also helps to symbolise the desire among many in Georgia to move closer to the West, while limiting Russian and Chinese influence in their country—Tbilisi in 2016 very pointedly granted the right to build the deep-water facility to US-backed investors.
For now, ruling coalition and opposition parties are lobbing brickbats at each other over why it was that in January officials went ahead and terminated the government’s public private partnership (PPP) contract with the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC). Although Georgian Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava has moved relatively quickly to
45 GEORGIA Country Report April 2020 www.intellinews.com
