Hotel, recreation, health infrastructure to be created in Tskaltubo resort with Qatari investments
State-owned non-agricultural plots of land and infrastructure located on it will be transferred to the Qatari company for implementing the project, where three-, four- and five-star hotels will be built. Photo: Tskaltubo tourist information centre
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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.
State-owned non-agricultural plots of land and infrastructure located on it will be transferred to the Qatari company for implementing the project, where three-, four- and five-star hotels will be built, Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili said.
One of the sanatoriums in Tskaltubo. Photo: Tako Bakradze
The minimum privatisation amount for the Qatari investment group is approximately ₾12 million ($4.49mln), while the privatisation obligations are up to ₾35 million ($13mln).
In July, the Government announced that Tskaltubo, located seven kilometres outside Kutaisi in Georgia’s western Imereti region, was expected to receive an estimated ₾500 million ($187 million) in private investment as well as “tens of millions of lari” from the Government.
Photo: Tako Bakradze
The initiative aims to transform the neglected resort into a “modern, European-level, world-class spa resort” similar to the likes of Baden-Baden in Germany and Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.
The project envisages privatisation of 14 sanatoriums, some of which have already been sold, the Ministry of Economy has said.
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.
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 highlighted the ₾3.3 billion ($1.22bln) budget for next year’s projects under the country’s Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, in his summary of the Government’s work throughout the past year.
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.
The Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia exceeded its approved 2022 budget by 103.5 percent, spending ₾104.1 million ($38.92mln) more than proscribed by the financial plan for the year, the state body revealed on Thursday.
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.
The United Kingdom-based Globetrotter television will promote Georgia’s balneological resorts in their series on Amazing Spa Towns of Europe, the Resorts Development Agency under the Georgian Ministry of Economy said on Monday.