Tag Archives: tourism

Turkmenistan opens new airport in Ashgabat shaped like a bird

SEPT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov opened a new airport in Ashgabat, which included a bird- shaped passenger terminal, that cost $2.3b to build and is capable of serving 17m passengers a year.

The airport, which the World Record Academy has called the world’s largest bird-shaped building, spans 364m.

Mr Berdymukhamedov wants the airport to become a key hub for pas- senger and cargo transit between Europe and Asia.

“The opening of the new international airport in Ashgabat will contribute to the full integration of Turkmenistan in the system of international relations,” a Turkmen government website wrote.

To achieve these ambitious goals, the government will have to relax some of its visa rules. Last year, only 110,000 foreigners visited Turkmenistan, according to Turkmen data.

Grandiose buildings, however, also serve as photo-ops and symbols of Mr Berdymukhamedov’s attempts to mould Turkmenistan’s image onto his own.

The near empty over-sized resort town of Avaza on the Caspian Sea shore, an indoor Ferris wheel considered the largest in the world and the largest hand-woven carpet all tell a similar story to that of the newly- unveiled airport.

The Guinness World Records said in 2013 that Ashgabat was the city with the greatest density of marble- clad buildings.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Georgia-Russia road link closure hurts Tbilisi tourism

TBILISI, JULY 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The closure of a road that threads through the Caucasus mountains and connects Georgia to Russia for three weeks because of a landslide has hit tourism in Tbilisi, highlighting the importance of the neighbours’ only direct overland link.

Russian tourism in Georgia has increased steadily over the past eight years since a Georgia-Russia war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Many Russians drive to Georgia along the only road directly linking the two countries at the Kazbegi border.

The other two roads linking Georgia and Russia run through South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway region in Georgia. Both routes are closed off to Georgia.

Giorgi Bregadze, head of the research department at the Georgian National Tourism Administration, told the Bulletin that there had been a fall in the number of Russians crossing into Georgia through the Kazbegi border this year.

“Many Russians have changed their holiday plans because the road was closed,” he told the Bulletin.

And the impact in Tbilisi has been felt immediately.

Bariiat from Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus, said that scores of reservations at her guesthouse had been cancelled.

“Our neighbours are all complaining that Russian tourists are not arriving as usual”, she said.

For Russians looking to drive to Georgia for their annual summer holiday the only route is on a long detour via Azerbaijan.

After a two-week vacation in Georgia with his wife, Pasha had to drive back to Lermontov in the Stavropol region of southern Russia.

“Our return journey to Russia through Baku will be 1,000km longer than our outward journey,” he said.

The closure of the Upper Lars checkpoint has not only hit Georgia. Armenia has also complained that goods from Russia have been unable to get through because of the landslide.

Emergency workers have said that they expect the landslide to be cleared next week and the road re-opened.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)

Georgia becomes new destination for Chinese tourists

JUNE 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – China Southern Airlines, a Chinese carrier, said it will begin regular flights from Beijing and Urumqi to Tbilisi from September 22. The company said the move responds to increasing interest in Georgia as a tourist destination. China Southern Airlines launched pilot flights from Tbilisi to Urumqi last November. Chinese tourism has become big business for Georgia which is increasingly promoting itself as a holiday destination.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Active Batumi builds 5-star hotel in Georgia

JUNE 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Active Batumi, a hotel and entertainment company, will build a new five-star hotel in Batumi, Georgia’s tourist hotspot by the end of the year. The new hotel will hold the Wyndham brand, which belongs to a US-based hotel and resorts chain. This would be the first Wyndham-branded hotel in Georgia. In Central Asia and the South Caucasus, the only two other Wyndham hotels are located in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

New Hyatt hotel to open in Uzbekistan

JUNE 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A new Hyatt hotel will open in mid- June in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, sources told local media. The US-based company had planned to open the new hotel in 2013. The original plan was a $113m investment and completion by early 2015. According to reports, costs have now grown to around $205 and include an investment from the government. The hotel will open just days before a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tashkent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Tourism income rises in Georgia

JUNE 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said income earned from the tourist industry reached $1.94b last year, 8.3% more than in 2014. According to Mr Kvirikashvili, the number of incoming tourists increased by 14% in the first five months of the year, compared to 2015. This is important for Georgia, where tourism is a major part of its economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Kazakh airline opens new links to Georgia

MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — SkyBus, a small airline in Kazakhstan, opened additional charter flights for the summer months from eight different Kazakh cities to the Georgian resort town of Batumi, on the Black Sea coast. Batumi is Georgia’s tourist hotspot and the new air link shows how popular it is becoming with ordinary Kazakhs.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

German investors present resort plan for Kazakhstan

MAY 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — German investors presented a €30b ($34b) plan for the development of Kenderli, a new resort town on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea shore. The plan to build a new city near Aktau, to host around 200,000 inhabitants and several thousand tourists, has been touted for years. Now a group of German companies said it is ready to fund an initial €600m ($675m) for the project. Kazakhstan is trying to boost its tourist infrastructure and has earmarked the Caspian for development.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Georgia’s city develops

MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — House in Alley, a local development company, said it will build a new hotel in Batumi, a resort town on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. The company said the new hotel, which will cost 18m lari ($8.4m), will hold 105 rooms. The new hotel is part of the government-supported project to improve the area around the Heroes Alley in central Batumi. Batumi is Georgia’s top resort town.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Batumi’s other poorer and dislocated side

BATUMI/Georgia, MAY 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — With its palm tree-lined boulevards, this city on the Black Sea coast is Georgia’s best known tourist destination.

It has boomed over the past decade and will soon host the world’s sixth largest hotel in the form of the 45-storey Twin Tower.

But there is a darker side.

On the outskirts of Batumi, several thousand people live in dilapidated barracks. Since October 2012, migrants and socially deprived people have been living in an abandoned Russian military base, now one of the biggest shantytowns in Georgia.

Its dwellers call it Ocnebis Kalaki. In English, this means Dream Town. It is a joke, a dark joke.

Water is available for only a few hours a day, there are frequent power cuts, gas is not provided and a rudimental sewage system increases the risk of infections and diseases.

Most of the families live in very small, poorly-built rooms. A family of eight share a two-room shack made out of wood, cement-asbestos, metal sheets and cardboard.

These people live on the fringe of Georgian society.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)