‘Winter in Georgia’ tourism promo video wins prizes [VIDEO]

A 45 second video promoting Georgia’s diverse and iconic winter areas as the best places to experience an unforgettable winter adventure has won a number of international prizes.

‘Winter in Georgia’, a video by the Georgian National Tourism Administration, was praised at different tourism film festivals for its video quality, range in content and unique shooting locations. 

The video won awards at:

• Riga Tourfilm (Latvia) – main prize
• Zagreb Tourfilm Festival (Croatia) – special prize
• Baku international Tourism Film Festival (Azerbaijan)- silver prize

The promotional video was created to show off Georgia's wonderlands - Gudauri, Bakuriani, Mestia and Goderdzi - and encourage guests to come to Georgia and explore all the country has to offer.

The video mainly focused on the winter resort but it also captured footage of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi and the country’s western Adjara region.

 Georgia! I love this country, I love the tunes and all its depths and heights. For a warm welcome in a cold day...I love it for [its] eloquent silence. The music in its soul. The youthful spirit and inspiring stories. For [its] proud look and honest smile,” says a voice in the video.

Head of the Georgian Tourism Administration Giorgi Chogovadze said an online marketing campaign promoting Georgia was currently underway in 12 countries.

We also have a special marketing campaign with TripAdvisor in 10 countries. At the same time a special project is being launched with National Geographic where one edition will be completely dedicated to Georgia,” said Chogovadze.

He promised the Tourism Administration would make more videos and he hoped all the future clips would be as successful as the ‘Winter in Georgia’ video, which is now being screened in four countries.

Aka Melikidze, creative director of Switch Communications - an advertising company who worked on the ‘Winter in Georgia’ video - said the company had created a ‘visit card’ for Georgia.

The message of the ‘Winter in Georgia’ video is to [show] winter has real warmth where we mean Georgian hospitality. Tourists visiting Georgia see not only a beautiful country with rich history but they also feel the warmth of Georgian people and their hospitality. That is why they are returning to Georgia again and again,” Melikidze said.

Meanwhile, 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 built 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.