In Georgia nobody is surprised with hot political summer, however this year temperature is really unbearable. Alongside with the beginning of the tourist season, our north neighbor put our safety status under question and respectively, expectations regarding tourist industry are full of fear and pride as well. Fear exists as up to present Russia was considered as a significant player of Georgian tourism sector and pride exists because things are not as bad as it seems.
Campaign #spendyoursummerinGeorgia launched in social media has become popular in many countries and Georgia gained tremendous support after V.Putin banned flights between Georgia and Russia and called on Russians not to visit Georgia as tourists. Tourist sector in Georgia is growing and neither GEL fluctuation nor Russian threat will change the trend. According to IPM Researches the number of hotels mentioned in media increased by 19 from 2017 to 2018, in June-July period. Incomplete indicator of June, 2019 is already tantamount to the indicator of 2 months in 2017 and in total we encounter 88 hotel names in media. 5 leading hotels of 2019 are given in the chart in terms of media coverage frequency:
It is worth noting that in 2019 the leading hotels of 2018 like Biltmore Tbilisi, Holiday Inn were replaced by renovated Sheraton and a new brand-Paragraph Shekvetili. The sentiment profile of presented 5 hotels shows the balance between neutral and positive as the industry is distinguished with the positive attitude of media if we do not consider the facts like fire in hotel Leo Grande last year.
The chart shows that hotel Paragraph is distinguished with the highest indicator of positive assessment. Its positive profile is preconditioned namely by accommodation of „Black Eyed Peasს.“ At the same time there as news about a giant turtle found in Poti. Necessary rehabilitation treatment was carried out for the turtle at a special quarantine pool of hotel Paragraph. After this procedure, turtle returned to its natural environment.