64% of tourists enjoy visiting Georgia’s Adjara region

The majority of tourists enjoy staying in Georgia’s Black Sea Adjara region and are keen to revisit the area and recommend others to discover the beauty of Adjara.

Today the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara published information about tourists’ satisfaction levels while visiting Adjara between August and September in 2015.

The data from 1,000 respondents analysed how happy tourist were when they visited different places in the Adjara region.

About 36 percent of people were from Turkey, 16 percent from Armenia, 16 percent from Azerbaijan and seven percent from Russia.

Tourists aged 15 years or older participated in the research while the average age of respondents was 36 years. As for gender, 65 percent of tourists were male.

The level of happiness a person gained while travelling around Adjara varied; 64 percent of tourists said they were "very satisfied”, 28.6 percent were "satisfied”, 0.4 percent were "dissatisfied” and 0.2 percent were "very dissatisfied”.

Batumi Port in Adjara region. Photo by N. Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

Furthermore, five percent of tourists said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and 0.6 percent said they cannot answer this question.

More than 90 percent of tourists were delighted to revisit Adjara while only 1.5 percent said they did not want to visit the region again.

The research showed 58 percent of tourists were visiting Adjara region for the first time.

Mostly people travelled in Adjara with their friends (37.4 percent) or with family (34.2 percent). Only 23.7 percent visited Adjara alone and 4.7 percent went with their employees.

On average, tourists stayed for four nights in the region between August and September 2015.

Only 26.8 percent of tourists booked accommodation in advance, while 73.2 percent found a place to stay after arriving in Adjara.

Why do people visit Adjara?

Recreation, vacationing and entertaining were the most common reasons why people visited Adjara in August and September 2015. 

The reasons for travel included:

• Enjoying the beach and entertainment - 44.1 percent;
• Discovering nature and the landscape - 37.3 percent;
• Transit - 6.3 percent;
• Visiting friends/relatives - 5.9 percent;
• Camping – 1.1 percent;
• Attending sportign events - 1 percent;
• Other – 4.3 percent

How did tourists learn about Adjara?

The majority of tourists learned about Adjara region from their friends and relatives. They said this was the most reliable source of information about the Georgian region. Also, respondents said their own experiences encouraged them to visit Adjara again.

Figures showed tourists learned about Adjara from:

• Friends and relatives – 64.9 percent;
• Their own experience from a previous visit - 25.4 percent;
• TV/radio – 11.3 percent;
• Former Georgian citizen – 7.6 percent;
• Internet – 4.3 percent;
• Print media – 2.1 percent;
• Tourist company/tour operator – 2.1 percent;
• www.tripadvisor.com – 1.9 percent;
• Tourist information centre – 1.5 percent;
• Flyers, booklets and maps printed and distributed by the Government of Georgia – 1 percent.

Fisherman at Black Sea, Adjara region. Photo by N. Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

What are the challenges tourists face in Adjara?

While answering questions about the biggest challenges tourists faced in Adjara, visitors said it was poor service, high prices and lack of infrastructure in the region.

In particular, the biggest challenges they named were:

• Poor service – 14.4 percent;
• High prices – 11 percent;
• Road safety - 10 percent;
• Neglected coastline - 9.1 percent
• Poor infrastructure (roads, buildings) – 8.1 percent;
• Rough and careless attitude from the local population - 7.2 percent;
• Poor communication in English language - 4.8 percent;
• Queues at customs centre - 4.3 percent;
• Safety risks (fight and thieving) - 3.3 percent;
• Uncomfortable transport - 3.3 percent;
• Problems related to public toilets - 2.4 percent;
• Lack of international restaurants and meals - 2.4 percent;
• Lack of hygienic norms in the streets, restaurants and coastline - 2.4 percent;
• Too many people/too loud noise - 2.4 percent, and others.

Despite these concerns, 84.4 percent of those surveyed found it difficult to say what kind of services they would like to receive during their next visit in the region, said the report.

How much money do tourists spend in Adjara?

One visitor spent about 319.66 GEL a day, of which 90 GEL was spend on food. Most of this food money (54 GEL) was spent per day in restaurants, cafes and bars.

Tourists said they were invited about twice by local residents of Adjara region in local restaurants.