RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP VISION DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS

Tourist production and regional development 187
major activity of the National Tourism Administration is oriented not on the management of
the branch (National and Regional) policy, but on the advertisement and promotion of the
Georgian tourist product abroad (what must be done by an advertising company), in proof
whereof we can name the budget of the Administration. For about last 10 years, over 90%
of the State Treasury has been allotted to realize the marketing measures. On the other hand,
the National Tourism Administration with its functions and activity must first of all, must
discharge the function of identifying the branch priorities and realizing the state policy related
to the priorities (updating the outdated Law and branch regulatory acts, developing the regional
and national strategy as a whole, stimulating and protecting the branch participants, etc.).
Between 2013 and 2014, the total value added in the tourism sector increased by 10%
and reached 1.52 billion Gel due to increased demand. As a result, tourism’s gross value added,
as a proportion of GDP, increased from 5.9% to 6%. The additional value added in the tourism
industry in 2014 was mainly driven by accommodation (an increase of 15%) and passenger
traffic (air transport increased by 9% and other transport by 11%).
The precondition to improve the tourism competitiveness on the global tourist market of
Georgia is to efficiently enforce the legislation to promote and protect the competition on the
local market and against the power-abusive companies on the market. The changes on the
basis of the competition protective legislation must transform the Georgian tourist market
into a market with a monopolistic competition (the one with various tour-operators), mostly
with small and medium businesses operating on it.
Tourist resources of the regions of Georgia
Tourism and resorts for such a country, as Georgia is, are indispensable. There is no tourist
route in Georgia bypassing the resorts or spas, and similarly, it is impossible having one’s
holiday at the resort, having spa cure or treatment or improving one’s health without being
engaged in cultural-recognition, nature perceptive or other kinds of tourism. There is hardly
any other country in the world combining almost all types of curative factors, such as climate,
waters, muds, caves, etc. as Georgia.
At present, there are 102 resorts and 182 spas in Georgia (up to 2400 natural mineral water
springs with 13000 million liters output a day, with 65% of them being acid or sulphuric)
registered in the country.
The country started to develop local resorts in the first half of the XIX century. In the second
half of the XIX century, such resorts, as Borjomi and Abastumani were developed and
Kojori was made a holiday area. By the end of the XIX century, Georgia started to develop
the resources of the Black Sea resorts, while the scientifically proved planned development
started in 1926.
Until the 1990s, the major source of Georgian tourism was mineral waters and treatment
whilst on holiday. By then, Georgia received up to 4 million tourists, and tourism used the
state facilities, hotels or guesthouses owned by the trade unions to accommodate the tourists.
The tourist flows were organized to the mineral water or spa resorts in a centralized manner
during the year. The tourist trips in Georgia were mostly based on holiday-making and recreation
on the resorts of the country (Metreveli & Timothy, 2010).