Getting ready for winter:
Georgia’s resorts welcome visitors with new infrastructure

Georgia is getting ready for winter and bringing new infrastructure to its main ski resorts to give visitors an unforgettable winter adventure.

A total of 10 new ski lifts are being installed at Georgia’s Bakuriani, Gudauri and Mestia winter resorts. Also being built are new hotels, apart-hotels and cottages, as well as new restaurants and entertainment facilities.

Authorities said it was imperative to develop the winter resort areas to cater for the needs of growing tourist numbers.

Bakuriani

One of Georgia’s main ski areas, Bakuriani and its neighbouring Mitarbi village, are welcoming a 100 million GEL (about $43 million/€38 million*) project to develop the area into a four-season alpine resort.

It was planned to gradually build Olympic-standard infrastructure in Bakuriani to make the area suitable for hosting the Olympic Games. Photo by N. Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

From December this year winter enthusiasts will return to Mitarbi after a 30 year break. Installed at the site are three new ski lifts that climb to 2,300m above sea level. The general development plan for Mitarbi also included building an eco village in the area.

Meanwhile an Olympic standard biathlon track, a rifle-range, ice hockey rink and a stadium for spectators, as well as several residential and entertainment areas, are earmarked to be built in Bakuriani and nearby villages.

Plans to restore the ski jumps at Bakuriani, regarded as an ex-Soviet Davos, have also been created.

This was part of a larger plan to gradually build Olympic-standard infrastructure in Bakuriani, which set forth a prerequisite for a "very realistic plan” of holding the Olympic Games in Georgia within the next 10 years, said Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

Gudauri

Three new ski lifts are being added to the seven already operational ski lifts at Gudauri - Georgia's most popular winter resort.

Three new ski lifts are being installed in Gudauri. Photo by Kote Kadagidze/Facebook. 

In the near future an adventure tourism school will open in Gudauri offering locals the chance to improve their knowledge about the mountain and mountain safety.

The school will provide trainings for those interested in mountain adventure tourism and other alpine high-risk professions.

Svaneti

Four new ski lifts and new tracks will be created at Tetnuldi, Svaneti's new ski resort, which only opened last year.

About 100 million GEL (about $43 million/€38 million*) will be invested in the development of the resort. Once fully developed, Tetnuldi will offer the longest ski tracks in Transcaucasia at 9.5km and will have the steepest vertical decline of 1.7km.

A video by Mountain Resorts Development Company showing construction works of ski lifts in Svaneti.

Development of Tetnuldi resort started in May 2014. Currently a seven km ski track has been built. Before the end of this year the track will be extended a further 30km.

Once developments are finished at the resort, Tetnuldi will boast a blue track for beginner skiers, a red track for intermediate skiers and a black track for experts.

*Currencies are equivalent with the latest National Bank of Georgia exchange rate.