(Caspiannews)
Beyond the international headlines about Mkhitaryan and inconvenienced fans, the people of Azerbaijan faced travel restrictions and more because of the game. But despite complaints of few economic or sporting benefits of playing host, some say it is still beneficial in drawing attention to human rights abuses in the country. [Read more…]
Omalo, Tusheti (Dominik K. Cagara /Archive)
The Georgian government has an ambitious plan to construct a road connecting the mountainous regions of northeast Georgia, from Khevsureti to Tusheti. It’s stated goal — to develop tourism and help locals travel between difficult-to-reach areas. But many, both locals and others, are against the project. They say it will wreck the environment, damaging the region’s unique natural appeal, and taking with it their hopes of developing ecotourism.
(Robin Fabbro /OC Media)
Taxi drivers in Georgia may be required to obtain licenses from local authorities to continue operating, if plans announced by new Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze on 24 January go ahead. Kaladze said the Mayor’s Office is drafting a bill to ‘improve taxi services’ in the country, which they will submit to parliament for consideration. [Read more…]
(Facebook)
Eleven people have died and 19 were injured in a fire at a hotel in Georgia’s Black Sea resort city of Batumi, Georgia’s Interior Minister has confirmed. [Read more…]
A beach in Sukhum (Dominik K. Cagara/ Archive)
Many in Abkhazia have lamented the failure of this year’s tourist season, connecting it directly to rising levels of crime. The usual problems were compounded by high profile attacks on tourists and an explosion at an ammunition depot which left two tourists dead.
Accident on Tusheti road, archive (Samkhretis Karibche)
А large rock fell on a car full of tourists heading to Tusheti, north eastern Georgia, on 10 August. They were lightly injured. There are frequent accidents on the Tusheti road, which are often fatal. [Read more…]
Advertisement for tours around Abkhazia (Dominik K. Cagara/Archive)
A number of travel agencies operating in Abkhazia have claimed that Russian citizens are cancelling tours there, Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti has reported. This follows an explosion at a military warehouse near Gudauta on 2 August which killed two Russian tourists.
Andrey Kabanov (apsnylife.ru)
On 13 July police arrested a number of people in the village of Primorskoye suspected of the murder of a Russian tourist in Abkhazia, Caucasian Knot reports. [Read more…]
