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philosopher Arsene Ikaltoeli taught there, of whose one of the students was a great poet
Shota Rustaveli. Georgian Christian Church, founded by St. Andrew in the 1 st century on the
shores of the Euxine Pontus (the Hospitable Sea), became a state owned in 326 by works of
St Nina, who was buried in Bodbe (near Signakhi). One of the main shrines of Georgia – Nina
Cross is in the Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral and one of the oldest shrines – The seamless tunic of
Christ is in Mtskheta’s Cathedral Svetitskhoveli. There is another ancient relic here – the
grave of Simon the Canaanite, the student and companion of the Apostle Andrew
(Korganashvili, 2011, 2012, 2013).
Good basis for the development of international tourism in Georgia are laid by factors such
as long-term economic, cultural and historical ties with many countries of the world
(especially with the countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation), high level of
education, a large number of public holidays and weekends, and so on.
In accordance with the all above noted Georgia has the potential for tourism development,
which many of the world recognized leaders in the tourism industry do not have. The variety
of tourism resources creates a comparative advantage, which contributes to the
development of virtually all types and forms of tourism in Georgia. However, according to
the evaluation of "Fox News", Georgia came in eighth place among the 10 under-the-radar
destinations for 2016. This ranking included Sri Lanka, Colombia, Japan, Switzerland,
Greenland, Ohio, China, Montenegro and Nicaragua along with Georgia. The rating includes
10 tourist destinations that are not known to the masses (Fox News, 2016).
Problems and prospects of the development of international tourism in Georgia
Tourism is recognized as one of the priority sectors of the economy in Georgia, but in 2015,
according to the Government prioritization of the Travel & Tourism industry it occupies 53th
place among 141 countries of the world (T&TCR, 2015), and in 2013 it was on the 17th place
among 140 countries (T&TCR, 2013). Government is taking a number of concrete measures
(modernization of public infrastructure, the creation of special tourist areas, reconstruction
of existing and construction of new hotels, an increasing number of upscale segment – "4
star" and "5 stars», PR-campaign to promote the country internationally in tourism market,
training of qualified personnel, and etc.) aimed to support and develop tourism. However, a
number of problems characterizes the market of tourism services of the country, among
which the main ones are:
Lack of recognition and awareness of "Georgia" tourism brand abroad;
Inadequate study of the tourism potential of the country;
The need to modernize the existing tourism product and the creation of new products;
Poor quality of Georgian tourism product;
Low professionalism of the employees of tourism industry;
Low level of business communications among the various travel agencies to address
common market challenges;
Lack of full and objective information about the features of needs in different regions of
Georgia, and the nature of demand, according to the regional groups;
Low level of infrastructural development of resorts and other tourist places.
Table 2 presents a matrix of the SWOT-analysis. As can be seen from the matrix, country has
great potential for tourism development, but its use prevents a number of weaknesses and
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