Lonely Planet: mountains, hiking and wine – Georgia aims to open to international tourism in July

One of the world’s most popular guidebooks, Lonely Planet, has published an article about Georgia’s tourism potential and how the country is trying to cement the status of ‘safe destinations’ during the pandemic.

Before Georgia locked down due to coronavirus, tourism numbers peaked at a high of over nine million in 2019.

Anna Deviata, the founder of Tbilisi Hack Free Tours, told Lonely Planet that tourists were drawn to Georgia by a winning offering of “great natural food, beautiful mountains, ancient cities with rich culture and history, a huge variety of wines and the whole wine-making and wine drinking tradition itself, friendly prices and incredibly hospitable people”.

Richard Collett, the author of the article  says that Georgia’s rapid lockdown could well have proven successful, as so far, the small Caucasus nation has only officially recorded 731 cases of infection and 12 deaths.

Economy Minister Natia Turnava hopes to brand Georgia as a safe destination on the back of the country’s apparent Covid-19 successes, announcing at a recent press conference that before the world knew Georgia as a country with an ancient hospitality tradition, now the world will recognize it as a safe country destination”, reads the article.

Levan Giorgadze, the founder of Tbilisi Free Walking Tours, told Lonely Planet that his company has already  planned social distancing measures when he resumes walking tours of the capital.

For safety we are going to have several restrictions, including having only 10-15 people in each tour, using microphones when needed, visitors using face masks, and keeping a safe distance from one another”, said Giorgadze.

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia stated earlier this month that Georgia will resume domestic tourism starting June 15 and will receive international tourists starting July 1.

See the full article here.