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Ailyn Agonia
Doha
WITH the growing popularity of Georgia as a preferred tourist destination for Qataris and expatriates in the country, the Georgian National Tourism Administration together with the Embassy of Georgia in Qatar is planning to start a large scale marketing campaign including assisting travel agencies in the country to further promote Georgia.
According to the new Ambassador of Georgia to Qatar HE Nikoloz Revazishvili, the tourism programme includes mainly digital marketing campaign and assistance to travel agencies in Qatar in organising familiarisation tours to Georgia.
"In 2017, around 3,000 Qatari nationals visited Georgia, which is 78 percent increase in comparison with last year. During last three years, the number of Qatari nationals having visited Georgia has increased 10 times. There is no data available concerning the number of expatriates who have visited Georgia, but taking into account the ratio of Qataris and expats, we can assume that the total number of visitors from Qatar exceeds at least 10,000," the ambassador told Qatar Tribune in an interview.
"Daily two flights from Doha to Tbilisi give good opportunity to increase the tourism flow from Georgia to Qatar as well. Georgians love to travel and if we will be able to deliver the information about touristic opportunities of Qatar to Georgian tour companies and arrange their 'info tours' in Qatar, the visitors' number will be significantly increased. I hope soon Qatar Airways will also launch direct flights from Doha to the Georgian Black Sea town of Batumi. This will give opportunity to Qatar tour agencies to create special touristic packages, which will give option to Qatari tourists to start their travel in Tbilisi, end in Batumi and catch a flight directly to Doha from there," he added.
Ambassador Revazishvili further said that they are also keen on hosting a number of cultural events especially as Georgia is celebrating this year its 100th anniversary of independence as well as marking the 25th anniversary of the country's diplomatic relations with Qatar.
Among the events are live performances of Georgian folk singers and dancers, exhibition of Georgian art and holding retrospection of masterpieces of Georgian cinema.
"Plans are big and we hope that with support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Qatar and Cultural Village-Katara we will be able to fulfil them all. I would also like to thank Ministry of Culture and Sports of Qatar for its valuable support of the Arabic translation of selected stories of famous Georgian writer Nodar Dumbadze. The book will be published very soon," said Ambassador Revazishvili.
To date, there are 200 Georgians citizens living in Qatar employed in the healthcare, education, hospitality and retail sectors. The ambassador also mentioned that every year Qatar University welcomes two Georgian students to the special programme of Arabic language for non-native speakers. While other Georgian students study at different universities of Education City.
The ambassador also said that with the introduction of visa-free regime for Georgian citizens in July 2017, more and more Georgian nationals are visiting Qatar and the numbers are expected to increase in coming years.
