Page 39 - GEORptDec17

Tourism is one of Georgia's fastest growing sectors. In recent years, it has benefited from government-funded strategic marketing targeted at visitors from markets in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Central and East Asia.
Meanwhile, a flurry of real estate developments related to receiving and entertaining tourists are helping to position the country as a destination for tourism featuring beach, gambling, cultural and mountaineering pursuits. Medical tourism is also a significant draw.
Georgia defines tourists as people who spend 24 hours or more in the country and travellers as people who simply cross the state border. The number of travellers in January-October was double that of tourists at 6.4mn.
The main sources of tourists coming to Georgia are neighbouring countries - Azerbaijani, Armenia, Russia, Turkey and Iran. However, the markets with the highest growth so far this year have been Arab countries - Saudi Arabia (171.5% increase in the number of tourists) and Kuwait (150.3%). They were followed by Iran (122.8%), South Korea (88.1%) and Uzbekistan (75.4%).
A fire at an upscale hotel in Georgia on November 24 killed 11 and injured 21, according to a statement from the Georgian interior ministry. The fire, which occurred at the Leogrand Hotel in the Black Sea beach resort of Batumi, started in the evening and trapped many of the hotel's guests on the seventh floor, according to local media reports. The only staircase in the establishment was reportedly filled with smoke, preventing guests from exiting the building. Thirteen rescue vehicles and 100 firefighters were deployed to put out the fire, an operation that took almost six hours. There were over 100 guests at the hotel on the night of the accident, according to civil.ge.
Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in Georgia, with inflows of foreigners and an uptake in domestic travel having prompted an unprecedented increase in the number of hotels and restaurants. This incident will likely draw attention to the issue of safety in the hospitality industry, and could affect the number of foreigners willing to travel to the country.
While the cause of the fire is still being investigated, the hotel's management will be prosecuted for a breach in fire safety regulations resulting in more than two deaths (article 243 of the Georgian criminal code), the interior ministry said on November 25. The Leogrand hotel was reportedly scheduled to host a Miss Georgia contest on November 26.
9.1.7 Utilities sector news
A feasibility study for a north-south energy corridor traversing Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Iran will be finished in 2018, Arka news agency reported on November 1 citing Alexander Novak, co-chair of the Russia-Iran intergovernmental commission.
The energy corridor would consist of transmission lines uniting the grids of the four participating countries. Armenia is already connected to Russia and Iran through high-voltage power lines, through which it exports electricity in exchange for natural gas. However, Yerevan is working on constructing a third line connecting it to Iran and transmission lines connecting it to Georgia.
39 GEORGIA Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com