Georgian PM: “Gudauri will triple in size”

Georgia’s popular winter resort of Gudauri will triple in size, announces Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

But it will be a prudently planned and developed destination with all necessary facilities, and not only for skiers. It will also meet the current global trend of rapidly growing numbers of non-skiers visiting ski resorts”, said Kvirikashvili at today's government meeting which approved Gudauri's urban development documentation.

Kvirikashvili said that Georgia’s proper spatial development is being given top priority, especially in winter resorts, in order to prevent unorganised development and to plan from the onset spaces for residential areas, sufficient parking spaces, pedestrian areas, and trade and entertainment spaces.

Kvirikashvili stated that Gudauri’s development plan also corresponds to the requirements of the Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships that Gudauri and another resort Bakuriani will host in 2023.

Gudauri will be divided into three territories: 1) Central Gudauri, 2) New Gudauri as the resort's main pedestrian center, with mandatory tourism infrastructure on the first floor of each building in the settlement, including ski service centers, shops, food outlets, rest areas, conference halls, and others, and 3) The Kobi-Gudauri Base Area that will improve access to the Gudauri skiing area and will enable Stepantzminda's residents, and tourists arriving from the north, to use gondola lifts, despite climate conditions-with the construction of gondola lifts to launch this year-easily to access the resort's ski areas”, Kvirikashvili said.

To summarise, today's Gudauri will be three times the current size, but it will be a prudently planned and a developed destination with all necessary facilities, and not only for skiers”, he added.