Georgia’s Tourism Authority Says No to Ads on CNN and BBC - The FINANCIAL
30 July, 2013
The FINANCIAL published an article about Georgia’s ads on international TV channels.
‘The new Georgian Government is saying no to the country’s promotion via CNN, BBC and other leading international TV channels. “The previous TV campaign was quite simply a waste of money,” Giorgi Sigua, new Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA), told The FINANCIAL. Banners, LED screens and billboards, and online advertisements are the new advertising means of choice of the current administration.
“The money needs to be spent on promoting Georgia outside of Georgia, because once you get here it sells itself. People have not heard about the changes that have happened here over the last couple of years. As a tourist I would like to know more about Georgia,” Tom Flanagan, Area Vice President of the Rezidor Hotel Group, recently stated in an interview with The FINANCIAL.
“Awareness is relative. Georgia’s awareness in its neighbouring countries is high; in Eastern Europe it is average, and in the USA, Australia and Africa - very low,” Sigua stated.
Another complaint regarding a lack of information about Georgia outside of the country was logged by representatives of Kazakh travel companies. “Kazakh travellers have big interest in Georgia but a lack of available information is hampering bilateral relations,” The FINANCIAL was told at a meeting with travel agencies in Astana.
“When planning a promotional campaign you should research the gross rating point, which means defining your target audience. You can broadcast an ad for millions of people but none of them might necessarily be your target. CNN’s audience is North America. It is not our target market,” said Sigua.
“According to my information USD 24 million was spent on advertisements on CNN,” Sigua said.
Nata Kvachantiradze, Chairwoman of the Georgian Tourism Association (GTA), said that any marketing move is good for the development of tourism in Georgia.
“The country’s advertising campaign will continue in the future. A new marketing strategy is under development at the moment which will increase the country’s awareness in the future. The Government as well as private sector is involved in these processes,” Kvachantiradze added.
Sigua said that TV commercials are too expensive so they are currently focused on billboards and online advertisements. “We are going to advertise Georgia in Kiev , Donetsk and Kharkov. The budget of this campaign will be USD 200,000. Under these terms we will have 66 billboards and LED screens. Ukraine is a market with 45 million people. The number of Ukrainian visitors has already increased by 77%; by the end of 2013 we expect the level of growth to be 100%. We expect to host over 30,000 Ukrainian visitors next year. That means USD 30 million of income out of which USD 8-9 million will go to the budget.”
Ako Akhalaia, Senior Consultant at GEPRA, measured Georgia’s promoting campaign in several directions. “TV ads were normal, however, for the effectiveness of the campaign that is not enough. The point is what we wanted to get from this campaign. Enhancing the country’s awareness? Creating a proper image of the country or attracting more tourists? Although BBC and CNN have great awareness and reliability the results of the campaign showed that it achieved only the first two tasks. It missed the main point. It definitely raised the country’s awareness, formed a positive image, but did not provide enviable sales figures. It turns out that attracting one tourist is expensive for us. In my view, the advertiser was not sufficiently informed or did not adequately foresee the audience’s behaviour.”
“Official statistics clearly show that Georgia has been most attractive to our neighbour countries. Continuing with the old policy made no sense. It did not yield sufficient benefits for the country. Stopping promotion of the country will result in a reduction of tourists. However, we should remember that doing something does not always mean you are doing the right thing. If someone decided never to implement an advertising campaign for a target audience then that would be very bad,” said Akhalaia.
About the point - whether Georgia should continue its promotional campaign on leading TV companies - that is a marketing decision in Akhalaia’s view. “Although in Georgia marketing is mostly associated with creative processes, marketing encompasses the financial part. It does not matter whether it is the world’s leading media source or any other country’s, we as marketers are investing finances to receive more tourists and accordingly more money. Experience has shown that investing in an advertising campaign on CNN or BBC does not serve this purpose. It enhances the country’s awareness but does not attract as many tourists as we would desire,” said Akhalaia.
“Promotion of the country should continue but with new communication channels, online advertisements, media tours, by attracting travel agencies, banners and others. We should be aware of the markets and consumer behaviour of our target markets. The objective of investment is simple - to attract more tourists, where the price of the attraction is less than its profit,” Akhalaia said.
Georgia expects to host 5,500,000 international travellers this year, out of which only 57% will be tourists.
The annual budget for the year 2013 is USD 6.5 million. The amount that will be spent on our marketing campaign is 3.5 million, and the amount that will be spent on our campaign outside the country is 1 million.
“Kuwait, Qatar and Oman are markets that we will target. We want to run massive campaigns in Russia and Kazakhstan too,” said Sigua.
“From the beginning of August we will start our promotional campaign in the Baltic States and Israel,” Sigua told The FINANCIAL.

By Madona Gasanova

Related stories:

10 things you might not know about Georgia – BBC


Georgia - in BBC's World's Most Dangerous Roads documentary

Other Stories
Bidzina Ivanishvili wants to buy a painting worth 1 million dollars
An unseen painting by Roman Kriheli, the Georgian painter living in New York, is already stirring interest from celebrity collectors, The New Work Post says.
Beer Festival to be held in Batumi and Telavi
Georgian beer company “Natakhtari” will welcome a number of guests at the first Beer Festival held in Telavi and Batumi.
Tbilisi State University rector elected
Vladimer Papava was elected as rector of Tbilisi State University. Papava got 10 votes, while his opponent Irma Ratiani got 2 votes, an InterpressNews correspondent reports.
Georgian and Russian journalists in Richard Lugar lab
The crew of TV Company "Russia" is preparing a story on the Tbilisi Richard Lugar research laboratory. Together with the Russian television reporters a few representatives of the Georgian media were allowed into the lab.
Azerbaijan declares Dato Turashvili and Beso Khvedelidze as persona non grata
Azerbaijan has not notified Georgia about declaring Georgian writers Dato Turashvili and Beso Khvedelidze as persona non grata.
Evacuation announced in Kutaisi Parliament
Phone call was received in parliament stating that there was a bomb in the building, InterPressNews correspondent informs from parliament. The employees have been evacuated. Security guards called on the MPs to empty the building. Law enforcers are working in the legislative body now.
Georgia: Brides 'undergo virginity inspections' - BBC
BBC published an article about "virginity inspections" in Georgia.
'Brides-to-be in Georgia are apparently undergoing "virginity inspections" before they tie the knot.
TSU rectorship – once again on testing scales
Yesterday, July the 24th the Tbilisi State University main concert hall hosted one more public meeting, dedicated to the pre-election campaigning for the rectorship of the University. The lime-light this time fell on Professor Inness Merabishvili. It feels like the time of great University leaders – famed scholars, intelligent organizers, attractive personalities, and outstanding public figures – is returning to Georgia. The most massively recognized school of the country is giving a new chance to the better among the best to head one of the biggest universities of the world. There are fourteen candidates aspiring to the prestigious post of its rector and all of them seem to be deserving the honor, but only very few of them would probably be capable of putting the Georgian people’s adored shrine of knowledge into its previously recognized niche of the Nation’s wisdom and conscience.
‘MY FATHER WAS KILLED ON SAAKASHVILI’S ORDER’
New witness on divulged case

For the time being, the new witness shuns disclosing his name; for this reason, with regard to new circumstances about shooting down of public figure Guram Sharadze in the street several years ago, we spoke with his daughter Rusudan Sharadze.
Brazilian Ambassador Sings
Event that united diplomacy, art and goodwill

On July 15, at Tbilisi State Conservatoire, the Brazilian Ambassador to Georgia H.E Carlos Alberto Lopez Asfora gave concert. The event was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The ambassador decided to mark this event by the Bossa Nova concert and donate the income to the children affected by Leukemia.
Being a good Christian
I am not a very good Christian. I have never been able to avoid one particular pitfall. I have never been able not to judge others. If someone said something like ‘being gay is contagious and any young person can be made gay’, I judge that homophobe stupid. There is no logic to this argument. I like men, and no amount of Angelina Jolie lookalikes have ever been able to change my mind.
KAZAKH DIARIES

Interview with Bagdat Duskinova, Director of Astana Best Travel

Here we are again with our Kazakh stories. The second place that we, rather a small journalistic delegation from Georgia, which was received cordially by the host country and its ministry of foreign affairs, was the office of Astana Best Travel. The fact that the director of this travel agency is a lady makes me think that the gender issues are not so topical in Central Asia. Mrs. Bagdat Duskinova expressed her pleasure at our arrival.

NDI-Commissioned Public Opinion Survey
U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) released on July 12 part of its commissioned public opinion survey, which shows respondents’ attitudes towards broad range of policy and current issues.
The poll also includes ratings of political parties.
COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND EU FOR PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN PRISONS
On July 9, at the Holiday Inn, the Council of Europe with the support of the European Union launched the Joint Program “Human Rights in Prisons and Other Closed Institutions”, dedicated to protecting human rights and enhancing access to health care for the persons deprived of liberty.
KAZAKH DIARIES
Interview with Magiya Temirova, General Director of one of the most popular tour agencies in Astana

Together with another newspaper, Georgian Journal had an honor to be invited to the press tour to Kazakhstan for three days that coincided with the 15th anniversary of the new capital - Astana. This highly developed country in the Central Asia, which occupies the ninth place in the world according to its territory, is constantly developing and has a great potential, considering its rich natural resources. We offer the first interview that we recorded in its capital city of Astana – our respondent was Mrs. Magiya Temirova, General Director of Magic Travel agency.
Also on the Web
Mikheil Saakashvili’s motorcade followed by protesters in Zugdidi
A Protest was held outside the presidential residence in Zugdidi yesterday. The protest was organized by one of the founders
Rescuers saved two Czech tourists in Mestia
A MIA Rescue team saved two tourists in Mestia. Ministry of Internal Affairs informs that on Chatini Mountain, at a 2200 meter height
Syria's 'chemical' attack: Distressing footage analysed
There is growing diplomatic pressure to allow United Nations inspectors to visit the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria where hundreds of people are reported to have been killed.
Dinamo Tbilisi 0:5 Tottenham – Goal moments
Dinamo Tbilisi played in the first leg of UEFA Europe League play-offs match at Dinamo Arena against Tottenham Hotspur and was defeated
Dramatic suicide attempt in China
A firefighter has dramatically saved a woman who had planned to throw herself off a building in Tongren City in China’s Guizhou Province.
‘The majority of them were not professionals’ – Ivanishvili about TV 9 journalists
Journalists on TV 9 had not come from BBC or CNN; many of them were not professionals; they studied a lot of things on TV 9
Dinamo VS Tottenham - pre-match training in Tbilisi
Dinamo Tbilisi will play first leg of UEFA Europe League play-off against Tottenham Hotspur
Prison Break star confirms he's gay
Prison Break actor Wentworth Miller confirmed he's gay Wednesday in a letter posted on the GLAAD website, declining an invitation to a Russian film festival.
Providing lodging for prostitution in Batumi – four persons arrested
The officers of Batumi police division of Ajara Regional Main Division, as a result of special operative activities detained
Drug crime in Georgia – one person detained
Officers of Mtskheta-Mtiaeti Patrol Police Division detained Irakli S. (DoB 1985) for illegal purchase and keeping of drugs.
«« August 2013 »»
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
GEL Exchange
GBP
1
GBP
2.5862
RUB
100
RUB
5.0041
TRY
1
TRY
0.8364
EUR
1
EUR
2.2105
USD
1
USD
1.6609