Economy Minister hails infrastructure projects in Bakuriani as important investment for tourism development

Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili on Saturday hailed the infrastructure projects in Georgia’s winter resort of Bakuriani as important investments for the development of tourism, after visiting with Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili the preparatory works at the site for hosting the Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships.

Davitashvili said the new infrastructure would serve the resort for years and increase its importance and recognition on an international scale, resulting in more vacationers, which in turn would benefit the resort's local and the country’s national economy, the Economy Ministry said.

• Georgian PM inspects infrastructure projects in Bakuriani, highlights “large-scale” works carried out by gov’

The Minister pointed out that “historically”, Bakuriani resort had hosted all winter sports and highlighted the gradually developed “modern” infrastructure, including three new cable cars, a new 30-km artificial snowmaking system, and additional six new ski trails, for which the Government had allocated a total of ₾270 million (about $101mln).

Today, Bakuriani fully complies with the requirements of the International Ski Federation. This is an objective assessment of international experts. Bakuriani is ready to hold not only the mentioned [Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships] championship, but also to become a part of the regular sporting events calendar”, Davitashvili added.

Georgia will host about 700 athletes from 42 countries, who will compete in seven disciplines of the tournament to be held from February 16 to March 5.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation congress granted Georgia the hosting rights in 2018, and the tournament is organised with the support of the Georgian Government, as well as the country’s Mountain Trails Agency and Ski Federation.