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CAUCASIAN RESORTS: GROWTH OF POPULARITY AND DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 27 2014
27 June 2014 - 4:04pm
By Vestnik Kavkaza
The modern tourist industry offers a huge variety of foreign and
Russian destinations. The Caucasus has always been one of attractive
regions for Russian tourists, due to beautiful nature, mild climate,
unique cultural legacy and other factors. lya Umansky, the vice
president of the ATOR, speaks about favorable and non-favorable
aspects of development of tourism in the region.
Umansky says that the demand for the South Caucasus resorts is growing:
"The directions are at a stage of development of the tourist flow. It
is not big at the moment. However, countries differ from each other
and should be considered separately. Let's start with troublesome
Georgia. It has problems with tourist flow, the number of tourists,
and transportation of tourists. The key problem is transport. At the
moment it is very difficult and expensive to get there from Russia. The
number of Russians who want to visit Georgia is significant. We can
see a demand, but unfortunately, when we try to find the best option
of getting there for our tourists, the price is too high. That's why
the number of tourists from Ukraine is much bigger than the number of
tourists from Russia in Georgia. There are almost no Russian tourists,
only those who live in neighboring regions and can get there by car. As
for Armenia, the situation is simpler and more interesting. Russian
tourists love the destination. And trying to find a solution to
Georgia, we organize such trips that a person goes to Armenia,
sees Armenia around, goes to Georgia and returns to Russia through
Armenia. The program is hard, considering the transport aspect,
but the prices are nice. And more and more tourists choose such
trips. Speaking about Azerbaijan, I think the problem of the low
tourist flow is Azerbaijan's high prices. There is no problem with
transport, but hotels are too expensive. There are almost no economy
class hotels in Azerbaijan, only 4-5-star complexes which are rather
expensive. At the same time, the destination is being developed. It
got a serious impetus after hosting Eurovision. People got know Baku,
a region which is attractive and interesting for many people. People
want to visit the country and choose this direction. Unfortunately,
the inflow is not big. Speaking about the three countries in general,
they are developing in the sphere. I think in the near future they will
receive their tourists. People will choose the destinations. The only
thing is solving price problems - availability of transport tickets
or accommodation, regarding Baku."
Speaking about resorts of the North Caucasus, Umansky noted that
"the demand is not big. The first reason is stereotypes. Even though
the situation has changed in recent years, people still remember
the events which took place in the region. In fact, the process of
breaking the negative image and stereotypes will take a lot of time.
Tourism is closely connected to security. When people choose a resort,
they don't want risk, except for special tourist destinations.
However, development of these resort destinations and ski resorts
is absolutely the right path, as otherwise it would be impossible to
destroy the stereotypes; it will only grow in people's minds and we
couldn't defeat it ever. Of course, at first people from neighboring
regions will visit the resorts, but later tourists from other regions
will visit them and tell their friends about them. And step by step
the situation will change."
The vice president of the ATOR commented on correlation between price
and quality: "The problem concerns not only the North Caucasus. There
is a problem of correlation between price and quality in Russian
resorts in general. But the key point is not in the product of the
resorts, but in ticket prices."
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
June 27 2014
27 June 2014 - 4:04pm
By Vestnik Kavkaza
The modern tourist industry offers a huge variety of foreign and
Russian destinations. The Caucasus has always been one of attractive
regions for Russian tourists, due to beautiful nature, mild climate,
unique cultural legacy and other factors. lya Umansky, the vice
president of the ATOR, speaks about favorable and non-favorable
aspects of development of tourism in the region.
Umansky says that the demand for the South Caucasus resorts is growing:
"The directions are at a stage of development of the tourist flow. It
is not big at the moment. However, countries differ from each other
and should be considered separately. Let's start with troublesome
Georgia. It has problems with tourist flow, the number of tourists,
and transportation of tourists. The key problem is transport. At the
moment it is very difficult and expensive to get there from Russia. The
number of Russians who want to visit Georgia is significant. We can
see a demand, but unfortunately, when we try to find the best option
of getting there for our tourists, the price is too high. That's why
the number of tourists from Ukraine is much bigger than the number of
tourists from Russia in Georgia. There are almost no Russian tourists,
only those who live in neighboring regions and can get there by car. As
for Armenia, the situation is simpler and more interesting. Russian
tourists love the destination. And trying to find a solution to
Georgia, we organize such trips that a person goes to Armenia,
sees Armenia around, goes to Georgia and returns to Russia through
Armenia. The program is hard, considering the transport aspect,
but the prices are nice. And more and more tourists choose such
trips. Speaking about Azerbaijan, I think the problem of the low
tourist flow is Azerbaijan's high prices. There is no problem with
transport, but hotels are too expensive. There are almost no economy
class hotels in Azerbaijan, only 4-5-star complexes which are rather
expensive. At the same time, the destination is being developed. It
got a serious impetus after hosting Eurovision. People got know Baku,
a region which is attractive and interesting for many people. People
want to visit the country and choose this direction. Unfortunately,
the inflow is not big. Speaking about the three countries in general,
they are developing in the sphere. I think in the near future they will
receive their tourists. People will choose the destinations. The only
thing is solving price problems - availability of transport tickets
or accommodation, regarding Baku."
Speaking about resorts of the North Caucasus, Umansky noted that
"the demand is not big. The first reason is stereotypes. Even though
the situation has changed in recent years, people still remember
the events which took place in the region. In fact, the process of
breaking the negative image and stereotypes will take a lot of time.
Tourism is closely connected to security. When people choose a resort,
they don't want risk, except for special tourist destinations.
However, development of these resort destinations and ski resorts
is absolutely the right path, as otherwise it would be impossible to
destroy the stereotypes; it will only grow in people's minds and we
couldn't defeat it ever. Of course, at first people from neighboring
regions will visit the resorts, but later tourists from other regions
will visit them and tell their friends about them. And step by step
the situation will change."
The vice president of the ATOR commented on correlation between price
and quality: "The problem concerns not only the North Caucasus. There
is a problem of correlation between price and quality in Russian
resorts in general. But the key point is not in the product of the
resorts, but in ticket prices."