ADVANCING ECO, ADVENTURE, AND AGROTOURISM OPPORTUNITIES IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
The COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting restrictions greatly diminished the purchasing power of customers in Georgia and other Caucasus countries. Thus micro, small, and medium-size businesses (SMEs) in the tourism sector suffered greatly. Firms began to explore new, innovative ways to increase tourism businesses competitiveness and allow them to survive the crisis. The USAID Economic Development, Governance, and Enterprise Growth (EDGE) Project is capitalizing on the massive acceleration of e-commerce globally and is promoting development of digital skills among tourism SMEs in the region to help businesses bounce back from the crisis and increase sales.
The Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN) from Georgia and Green Lane NGO from Armenia partnered with EDGE project to provide a wide range of services, training, and growth opportunities for small tourism businesses in the Caucasus region focusing on eco and adventure tourism. One area of support was digital transformation. This February, 127 tourism SMEs’ representatives from Georgia and Armenia were trained in digital marketing, e-commerce, and digital tools for tourism business management. In addition, match-making and B2B events were organized in Georgia and Armenia, where 90 small tourism businesses had the opportunity to network with companies experienced in digital marketing, e-commerce, IT, business development consulting, tourism product development, and financial institutions offering financing to SMEs. The match-making events were followed by more than 50 direct B2B events.
One small tourism business that participated in these activities, Chamich Guesthouse from Armenia, immediately changed their approach on digital platforms. They have substantially increased frequency of posting, specifically on Facebook. Additionally, Chamich Guesthouse made edits to their Booking.com page to better highlight one offering, a Guesthouse, which has led to an uptick in reservations.
Lilit Chitchyan, the owner of the Chamich Guesthouse said, “Our activity on social networks led to us starting to accept offers for family events. After activating the Instagram page, we even received an offer to organize a wedding. Now we have acquired all the necessary amenities to organize weddings. We are cooperating with buffet Nazy’s Guest House horse trekking tour, Georgia organizations to be able to provide services for large family events. In fact, the B2B meetings helped us to create new tour products and start a more profitable business.”
The core of the activity is the regional tourism portal GoCaucasus that was developed and launched with support from EDGE. Small tourism businesses from the region joined the portal to establish regional partnerships, expand their product range, customize their services, and respond better to market demand. Since its launch in June, the GoCaucasus portal is growing rapidly with some 190 tourism businesses from Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan featured. The portal offers visitors a range of activities and green sights to see, from zip-lining, paragliding, rock-climbing, rafting, and birdwatching to hot-air ballooning, bungee-jumping, skiing, cycling, hiking, fishing, and honey making. Visitors can also find a comprehensive guide to the region’s national parks, various environmental sites well-worth visiting, and responsible tour operators and guides. Tourism stakeholders in all three countries have collaborated to create relevant country specific touristic destinations profiles. This collaboration plays an important role in contributing to peace and stability in the conflict region.
Nazy’s Guest House (NGH) is located in the middle of the Pankisi Valley in Georgia near the Batsara natural reserve. NGH is one the small tourism businesses featured on the GoCaucasus portal. The guest house is a two-hour drive from Tbilisi and offers tourists organic food, cultural, horseback riding, and cycling tours. In 2018 the guest house even won the National Tourism Award in the category of “Best Community Based Tourism.” Guests can attend master classes that showcase traditional Kist and Georgian cuisine, felting classes, Sufi rituals, and performances by local folk ensembles.
“When I started the Guest House tourism business in 2013, I was aware of the importance of having a professional presence on digital channels because the majority of tourists use internet-based technologies to make bookings. For this reason, our Guest House is hosted on different platforms including its own website, Booking.com, Airbnb.com, Tripadvisor.com, Facebook, Instagram and GoCaucasus. We estimate that 95% of our bookings come through these online platforms and 5% through email,” explains Nazy Dakishvili, owner of the Guesthouse. She continues, “I think the GoCaucasus Portal will provide a key opportunity for my business to attract international tourists, make the booking process easier for them, and popularize the Pankisi Valley on the regional as well as international travel market.”
Another small business featured on GoCaucasus is Tofigoglu from Azerbaijan, founded by Mrs. Guler Nabiyevaan and located in a picturesque village surrounded by mountains. Tofigoglu’s core business is bee keeping and honey making. They offer unique experiences for tourists visiting their bee hives farm, including presentations on the honey making process. Guler explains how she started and developed her business, “When I first started my business my idea was not only to keep bees, but also to think of an interesting activity for tourists. Now the place where we keep bees has become a favorite place for tourists to visit. Guests are also offered interesting jobs, such as sifting honey from the hive. My homemade honey pie has become a favorite dish of tourists. I am very glad that tourists who want to come to Azerbaijan can now find us through the GoCaucasus portal.”
These are only few of almost 200 small tourism businesses from the three countries featured on the portal, expanding the reach of SMEs beyond their countries’ boundaries, and also offering international tourists interested in the region an opportunity to plan multi-country tours.
