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In 2021, a scientific article was published in the tourism department of the quarterly scientific journal of the Technical University of Georgia, co-authored by Professor Mariam Bandzeladze and Otar Japaridze, a doctoral candidate for business administration at the Eastern University. We offer an interview with the authors of the article.
The need to plan and implement the research "Problems of mountain tourism and the prospects of development in Georgia" organized by us led to the problems of sustainable development of tourism as one profitable business in the background - in the conditions of Georgia, the problems of sustainable development of this field, which is mainly related to the maximum utilization of the tourist potential of mountainous regions without endangering the authenticity of the cultural-historical and touristically attractive places of the region.
As we know, tourists (both local and international) are very attracted by the diverse nature of our country - along with its historical and cultural heritage, although in addition to the spectacular and adventurous side, their interest is also the presence of elementary household conditions ( such as road and hygienic infrastructure, hotel and restaurant service Places, means of communication, etc. Sh >. the lack of which largely prevents the assimilation of tourist places and the development of this field.
However, mountain tourism is one of the leading directions of tourist traffic in many countries of the world (where there is a geographical readiness for this), and due to the natural location and capabilities of our country, the best way is for us to properly develop this direction and thereby increase both the share of financial profits and the country's notoriety in the international arena.
Thus, the need to conduct research was caused by the need to identify a number of problems in the direction of mountain tourism on the one hand and to determine the preferences of tourist behavior on the other.
Based on the need for research, according to its results, we were able to document the main problems we face in the direction of mountain tourism - from the point of view of tourist companies, guides, and tourists, and also to create profiles for tourists. These data are important information for those interested in the field of tourism because it will help solve the problems on the one hand - according to the degree of their importance. On the other hand, it will provide information about the wishes and demands that tourists of different categories (both local and international) have when traveling to Georgia - and this will make the tourist offers from our side more market-friendly and thus saleable. Sales tours directly affect the economic situation of individual people as well as the economic indicators of the country.
The impact of research results on the existence of specific people is all the more important by taking into account the pandemic background because the pandemic has hurt tourism the most. The fate of both businesses and specific people involved in this field depends significantly on the knowledge of post-pandemic expectations - and the research we conducted was also aimed at identifying post-pandemic expectations, and thus, it is very relevant in modern reality.
In studies in different directions of the field of tourism, it will be interesting to include those students who study business administration (especially in the direction of the tourism business). Mountain tourism is one of the most promising industries in general, and in the process of business administration, it is vital to know the target segment thoroughly - taking into account their problems, needs, desires, and needs, as well as characteristics of behavior - what is not new!
Therefore, involvement in research activities will give students important and vital information about the field they are interested in on the one hand, and on the other hand, they will acquire the experience of research activity in general - which will be useful more than once in their career arena.
The main challenge and difficulty of conducting research was related to the procedures for conducting it technically, in particular - as you already know, we conducted research during the active pandemic season, which limited the possibilities of conducting face-to-face interviews with respondents (taking into account regulations), as well as the process of finding foreign tourists - however, taking into account the purpose of research and its tasks - Deep interviews with tourism experts, guides and travel companies were to be conducted. Georgian and foreign tourists were also wanted in terms of collecting the necessary data. Due to the pandemic, the closed borders and internal regulations made this process quite difficult for us - in fact, we conducted a given experiment in force-major, although considering its results, it was really worth it.
We shared the results of the research with the representatives of the tourism industry - the tourism department, travel companies, and guides - which will naturally help them to see the problems in this sector and highlight in the research more clearly and in search of ways to solve them - especially since we also offered recommendations in the extensive document of the work to help solve the existing problems.
Unfortunately, the research did not have external funding - all administrative and procedural expenses were incurred by the authors of the research, because as we have already mentioned - the period of conducting the research coincided with a very active and problematic period in the pandemic, which is why the activities of many structures, including possible funders, were abnormal - therefore, we could not wait for the situation to calm down., because the study of the pandemic influences reviewed in the research should have taken place on hot, new and clear traces, and not post- factum.
