Developing the tourism industry and encouraging economic growth in Georgia's Kakheti region
- Client: World Bank
- Partners: Georgia National Tourism Agency – Government of Georgia
- Project Duration: February 2011 – December 2011
Project Description
The Kakheti region in Georgia’s far east is home to the country’s earliest Christian traditions, some of its most dramatic and alluring landscapes, and its highly renowned vineyards—most archaeologists agree that the first glass of wine was poured over 8,000 years ago within the nation’s modern borders, making Georgia one of the oldest wine cultures in the world. Despite these tourism assets, Georgia has a rather low level of tourism competitiveness primarily because it is not a well-known tourism destination in the major international tourism markets and because it lacks professional tourism services. An increased awareness of Georgia’s tourism assets as well as increased tourism capacity of stakeholders represents an opportunity to stimulate tourism activity and generate income for local communities.
To address this challenge, Solimar completed a detailed assessment and tourism development strategy for the Kakheti region aimed at increasing domestic and international tourism arrivals and encouraging increased spending during stays. The ultimate goal of the strategy to stimulate job creation and increase economic activity, cross-sector linkages, and tourism related income for local Kakheti communities. The strategy was developed based on a value chain analysis of Kakheti’s tourism potential and Georgia’s overall position as a competitive tourist destination, which found that Georgia’s wine culture provided the most significant opportunities for growth.
Major Activities
- Value Chain Analysis: assessing Georgia’s tourism potential through focus groups/meetings with tourism stakeholders, marketing and sales research, and the identification of new tourism products offerings.
- Developing a Tourism Development Strategy: based on the results of the Value Chain Analysis, Solimar created a Tourism Development Strategy for the Kakheti region
- Tourism Circuit & Routes Map: surveyed major tourism attractions within the Kakheti region and developed a comprehensive, informative and visually-striking map that highlights three key tourism routes: wine, culture, and nature/adventure.
Results
The value chain analysis yielded the following results:
- Comprehensive Tourism Development Strategy for the Kakheti region
- Comprehensive map of key tourism routes including wine, culture, and nature/adventure
