Gov't to put 100 resorts up for privatisation - PM
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday said his Government had studied the potential of more than 100 currently unused and former resorts across Georgia and would put them up for privatisation. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday said his Government had studied the potential of more than 100 currently unused and former resorts across Georgia and would put them up for privatisation.
We have about 300 climate and balneological resorts in Georgia, most of which are currently simply not functioning”, he said in reference to formerly used locations that have fallen into disrepair over decades or have not received infrastructure for realising resort potential.
About ₾200 million ($74.22mln) is being considered in next year's state budget for renovation of the most popular resort destinations in the country, including both popular and disused locations.
We will start the complete rehabilitation of the most popular resort areas - Borjomi, Bakuriani, Kazbegi, Mestia, Tskaltubo, Batumi, Kutaisi, Mtskheta - and we are going to implement very interesting projects in Barisakho-Roshka, Manglisi-Sioni and Omalo", Garibashvili said, adding detailed presentation of the projects would be hosted soon.
Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili added his team and the recently established Resorts Development Agency had visited “almost all municipalities” of the country and worked over several months with local authorities to explore development opportunities of resorts with potential.
There are too many resorts [...] which today do not have adequate investment attractiveness, and we have evaluated and prepared [a number of] locations which, in our opinion, will be interesting for investors”, he said.
“The National State Property Agency will start privatisation offers for state-owned properties, [while] at the same time, we will work on developing master plans for wider areas so that these resorts are developed according to correct plans [instead of] chaotic development", Davitashvili said.
Georgian economy minister Levan Davitashvili on Wednesday said the ministry was working for the development of the Georgian resorts and would offer privatisation packages to the private sector already this year.
Considering Georgia as an investment destination is a “very attractive proposition”, with the operating environment in the country being significantly improved along with an increase of the gross domestic product per capita, businessman and TV analyst Mark Haynes Daniell said on Wednesday after the Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili introduced a development plan for western Georgia’s Soviet-era Tskaltubo resort town to representatives of the private sector.
Georgia’s Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili on Tuesday said he expected the private sector to be “very active” and invest at least ₾500 million (about $170mln/€166mln) in rehabilitation project for western Georgia’s Soviet-era Tskaltubo resort.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday said that the Georgian Government would invest additional “tens of millions” of GEL in the effort to rehabilitate the long-neglected Soviet-era Tskaltubo resort into a “modern, world-class” spa location.
The Qatari company Golden Tower Invest Group will create "high-level" hotel, recreation and health infrastructure in western Georgia’s Soviet-era Tskaltubo resort as part of a project aiming to restore the former sanatoriums of the locality into a modern spa resort destination, the Georgian Ministry of Economy announced on Monday.
New locations in Georgia’s eastern, western and southwestern regions will be turned into resorts for winter sports, medical therapy and other purposes, as the Government looks to privatise around 50 currently unused areas next year, Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili revealed on Friday.
Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili on Saturday introduced the country’s balneological and medical tourism potential to the representatives of the European tourism industry at the 68th European Commission of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation in Bulgaria.
Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili on Thursday said the Government was launching a set of “complex steps” to develop resorts across the country, in opening remarks for the first international conference Trends and Challenges of Sustainable Development of Resorts, hosted in the capital city of Tbilisi.
Georgia's National Agency of State Property on Thursday said it had fulfilled the privatisation plan by 100.2 percent this year.