Wall Street Journal_Making the Case for Tourists in Georgia (August 24)

24.08.2007

By BY STEPHANIE GRUNER
SPECIAL TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
August 24, 2007

Tbilisi, Georgia

Former Soviet Republics are rolling out the red carpet for Western tourists with new hotels, cleaned-up capital cities and advertising campaigns. But are these countries, which gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, attractive holiday destinations?

The Baltics have had the most success so far. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- European Union members since 2004 -- are geographically and culturally close to Western Europe, have historic towns, beaches and cultural attractions that are an easy sell to Europeans, who can take inexpensive flights on discount airlines to the region. The number of visitors to the Baltics has grown 10% to 20% a year in the past few years, more than double the average for Europe overall, according to the European Travel Commission, a group made up of the national tourist offices in 38 European countries. (The statistics don't distinguish between tourists and other visitors.)....
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