“Apart-hotels expected  to work at full capacity during the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Bakuriani. Despite  price hikes, demand has not grown,” Gega Salukvadze, president of the Georgian Mountain Resorts Business Association, says.

According to Salukvadze, the championship is going smoothly, there are still few tourists in Bakuriani mainly  due to insufficient snow cover.

“Despite the championship, there are not enough tourists not only in Bakuriani -  the ski season is unstable because of little snow, rains that reduced  the number of  tourists in Bakuriani and Gudauri. But still  many foreigners attend the championship organized  at a high level,” he notes.

Salukvadze believes that  the main problem of Georgia's mountain resorts is chaotic construction while demand and supply are not studied at all.

“The Association thinks that research must be carried out, if it shows the number of tourists is increasing, only then a permit for the hotel construction should be issued that  is confirmed by world practice,” Gega Salukvadze points out.

He adds that the goal of the championship is to establish itself on the ski map of the world and hold such events in the country, but the tourists do not come a second time here due to the chaos in the resorts.

 “Seeing the  chaos, a foreign tourist will not return here a second time. The championship is important for us as Georgia appears on the ski resorts map of the world. The country’s progress in this direction is impressive, but when tourists come to Georgia after this PR campaign  and see this chaos, I don’t think they will be eager  to come here a second time,” President of the Georgian Mountain Resorts Business Association stresses.