Page 41 - bne IntelliNews Georgia country report October 2017

creation and, thanks to a marketing campaign to advertise Georgia and some of its iconic products together, in sales and exports of wine.
Furthermore, according to Galt & Taggart, tourism developments are now taking place outside of traditional destinations like Tbilisi or the Black Sea resort of Batumi. Thus, a 220-room hotel opened in Shekvetili on the Black Sea in September.
The number of international arrivals in August increased by 27.4% y/y to 1.1mn. The majority of foreign travellers continue to hail from nearby countries like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey, though arrivals from the EU also increased by 29.8% y/y to 47,000.
Officials made an appeal to several countries on August 30 to help in Georgia's ongoing fight against forest fires. Ukraine and Turkey have sent two aircraft, according to the Caucasus Knot, while Azerbaijan has sent two helicopters, according to APA news agency.
Tbilisi has been battling wild fires in the tourist region of Borjomi since August 20. A large fire that damaged 100 hectares of forest was put out on August 29 after 1,500 volunteers and fire fighters, helicopters and a plane battled it for more than a week, but another one started shortly afterwards close to the Abastumani resort.
Rescuers reportedly used bulldozers to cut a four to five-kilometre long road to reach the fire area; a rescue team of 1,000 is at the site, according to Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili.
Record summer temperatures have contributed to various instances of fires and explosions in the Caucasus in recent months. On August 27, a fire at an ammunition depot belonging to the Azerbaijani army left six injured. Meanwhile, in Armenia, a fire broke out at a decommissioned chemical plant on August 29. In both cases, the explosion was precipitated by the presence of chemicals or explosives, and the fires were extinguished.
Global Forest Watch (GFW) has reported 366 fire alerts in Georgia in the past week alone and 692 since the beginning of the year, compared to 616 in all of 2016 and 822 in 2015.
9.1.6 Utilities sector news
Two subsidiaries of Russia utility Inter RAO based in Georgia have initiate a legal case in dispute with Georgia over energy investments and asked the World Bank to arbitrate.
The subsidiaries -- Gardabani Holdings B.V. and Silk Road Holdings B.V. (the Netherlands) -- initiated arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of the Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, D.C. in their dispute with the Republic of Georgia. ICSID is part of the World Bank, Inter RAO said in a statement.
At issue is an unfulfilled investment promise by Georgia to the companies. The two Dutch-registered daughter companies are asking for compensation in
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