"We have demonstrated in numbers that our economy has shown resilience to political processes. However, if there were less irresponsible actions from some opponents and political groups, the situation would have been even better. In the future, trust me, we will maintain both stable economic development and overall political stability in the country," said Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Levan Davitashvili, during a press conference at the Government Administration.
He also spoke about the challenges in the tourism sector, stating that there are various types of challenges that need to be addressed, including the "not entirely adequate match between supply and demand."
"The Tourism Administration is working on and analyzing the challenges faced by the sector. There are various types of challenges that need to be addressed, including the fact that supply and demand are not always perfectly aligned as we would like. You know that supply has increased. The supply of certain types of tourism products has grown, but there may be less demand for them, and vice versa—there might be higher demand for certain products that are not sufficiently available. For example, the number of accommodation places has increased. In Georgia, private properties and apartments are actively used through Airbnb, which competes with hotels. In some cases, certain hotel establishments may express dissatisfaction, but there is a clear explanation for this.
In general, we are working on increasing the country's visibility, tourism campaigns, and making decisions in close cooperation with the private sector. If individual people express their opinions, it does not mean that the National Tourism Administration has a communication problem with the tourism sector as a whole—not at all. I personally inquired about this, and a few days ago, we reviewed both the current year’s plans and long-term strategies. The Tourism Administration has quite adequate plans, including very important measures aimed at improving tourism products, introducing standards in accordance with legislation, implementing new management principles, and many other aspects that will make our sector even more competitive. Long-term sustainability cannot be achieved without fundamental reforms. We recognize our successes and short-term results, but for long-term stability, a stronger focus on quality is essential," Davitashvili stated.
