During the Svaneti tour we ended up in the village of Lakhushdi, this is a village where everyone sings. Besides that, the locals are also involved in the tourism business, and they host visitors from various European countries as well.

Nikoloziani household has been involved in the tourism business for several years now. Everyone has their own functions in the family business. They place emphasis on ecotourism, and they offer their visitors a completely authentic rural environment.

“We discovered our niche and placed emphasis on the so-called ecotourism area. Since we produce all our products, we decided to offer them our guests. We’ve got a small farm, where we produce meat and milk products, we also keep bees. We produce all products needed for tourists on the spot.” – David Nikoloziani tells us.

From kitchen garden straight to table – this is the principle that Ecohouse Svaneti follows. Project GRETA funded by the EU, Austria and Sweden helped the Nikoloziani household expand their business.

With the help of donors, a glass-wall room was built in their hotel in order to help the visitors to take in the authentic nature, this room creates the illusion of spending the night outside for the guests.

Besides, the Nikoloziani family offer hiking tours to Ecohouse Svaneti visitors. David Nikoloziani received donor support in that area as well. He initiated revival of old hiking trails situated near the village, full equipment needed for restoring these trails was donated to the young entrepreneur by the EU, Austria and Sweden.

“Hiking trails require constant maintenance, branches grow, grass may also appear, and you need equipment in order to keep the trails in order at all times. We gave the full equipment needed for that purpose to David so that he could offer new hiking trails to tourists,” – Manager of Sustainable Mountain Tourism component of the GRETA project, Irakli Kutsia says.

Ecohouse Svaneti is one of the best examples of the synergy between two important components – tourism and organic agriculture. Project GRETA funded by the EU, Austria and Sweden is working in these two areas.

“Project GRETA funded by the EU, Austria and Sweden places emphasis on the two main components. These are organic agriculture and mountain tourism, compatibility between these two directions is ideal in this region,” – Ambassador of Austria in Georgia Mr. Thomas Muhlmann says.

Besides developing the ecotourism business, the Nikoloziani household also developed potato production. Currently, the family is expecting its first harvest. According to the head of the household, they should get 4-5 metric tons of potatoes if the weather is right.

“We wanted to produce biologically clean products. In our opinion that meant we had to avoid using any pesticides and chemicals, but it was hard to till the land. We had to use bulls and a plough in order to cultivate our land plot,” – Farmer Levan Nikoloziani says.

If previously the Lakhushdi villagers had to till the land with the use of bulls and ploughs, the process has now been simplified with the help of the EU, Austria and Sweden.

GRETA project provided local farmers with relevant machinery, which made potato-growing much easier for the Lakhushdi residents. Besides, experts got involved in the process in order to better organize agricultural operations.

“We help the producers with experts as well, with their help the locals improve their knowledge on how to produce higher quality products in bigger quantities,” – Manager of Organic Agriculture Component of the GRETA project Lasha Chanturia says.

The goal of GRETA project is to improve business environment in the country so that opportunities for generating additional incomes can increase in the following two sectors of the Georgian economy: Mountain tourism and organic agriculture.

This article has been produced by BMG, it represents its intellectual property and does not necessarily express the opinions of the EU, Austria and Sweden. 

Author: Anuka Jokhadze 

Source (GEO): BM.ge