"TEZ Tour", one of the largest  tourist companies in Russia, has expressed its interest in  the Georgian market.  How do  Georgian companies assess the fact, whether they consider a new player a competitor, and what will the Russian operator’s entry change in the Georgian market?

As it turned out, none of the Georgian travel companies surveyed  by "Commersant" knew about this news, they even heard nothing about "Tez Tour".

According to Giorgi Kalandadze, Director of "Georgica Travel" company,  he knows nothing about "TEZ Tour",  the company’s  activity  in Russia and  its plans in Georgia.

"Probably,  it is a very small and insignificant company that  it  will not  be able to change the situation on the Georgian market," – he notes.

Ia Tabagari,  the head of the Association of Tour Operators,  doesn’t  know about "Tez Tour" either.

 "I have not heard of the company and about  its  interest in the Georgian tourist market.  We still cannot imagine what could be its strategy towards Georgia, " - she says.

However, the expert in the field of tourism Shalva Khutsishvili knows about "Tez Tour". According to him, the emergence of any new company will contribute to the growth of competition, respectively, the development of the tourism industry.

"TEZ Tour"  is  a fairly large company which  has a very great experience. There is nothing strange in the fact that it  has shown its  interest in Georgia amid  the closure of the traditional tourist countries such as Egypt and Turkey for the  Russian citizens. In addition,  the Russian citizens have  visa-free travel  to  Georgia and there is no  language barrier. Growth of the Russian tourist flow is beneficial to both parties. The number of tourists  in Georgia will increase, besides the Russians are among the most profitable tourists because they spend a lot of money on  vacation, "- he  explains.

He believes that the emergence of the Russian company in Georgia will not  lead to significant price adjustment, but "TEZ Tour" will undoubtedly contribute to the growth of competition in the country , primarily,  in terms of service improvement.

“Wealthy tourists who pay money demand the relevant service while  in Georgia there are problems in this regard. The first reason of  the poor service is that the  hotel management doesn’t want to provide training for employees, where they would be able to obtain the skills necessary in the tourism business. In fact, a permanent increase of qualification and training of personnel is required. Perhaps the emergence of a major new company will encourage   the players on  the local tourism market to solve these problems, "- Shalva Khutsishvili suggests.

 A week ago it was reported that the famous international travel company of TEZ Tour  was interested in developing the tourists’ delivery direction in Georgia.

A kickoff meeting with the company management was held at the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. Georgian Economy Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili and TEZ Tour managing director Dimitri Charitidis talked about the tourism potential in Georgia and outlined the future cooperation perspectives.

 
TEZ Tour is a famous international tour operator that organizes tours from Russia, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union countries. The company also organizes tours to Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Egypt, Spain, China, Cuba, Mexico and many other countries worldwide.