Svaneti hosted Highlander global event with the support from the EU, Austria and Sweden

2022, 16 October
გააზიარე

Following the pandemic, summer tourism season gained momentum in August; however, this time it had a different form. One of the mysterious parts of Georgia Svaneti is being marked on hikers’ maps.

A long-distance global hiking event called Highlander Adventure, which is expected in 15 countries of the world every year, was joined by Georgia this time.

This event is taking place with the direct involvement of project GRETA funded by the EU, Austria and Sweden. With the donors’ help, Svaneti hosted up to 500 visitors during 3 days, and as of now, direct investments in the region exceeds 100,000 GEL.

“If you look around, along with local participants, you will see a lot of international visitors as well; therefore, I believe that this is the best opportunity for Georgia to appear on hikers’ world map. This gives Georgia even more visibility,

Following the pandemic, summer tourism season gained momentum in August; however, this time it had a different form. One of the mysterious parts of Georgia Svaneti is being marked on hikers’ maps.

A long-distance global hiking event called Highlander Adventure, which is expected in 15 countries of the world every year, was joined by Georgia this time.

This event is taking place with the direct involvement of project GRETA funded by the EU, Austria and Sweden. With the donors’ help, Svaneti hosted up to 500 visitors during 3 days, and as of now, direct investments in the region exceeds 100,000 GEL.

“If you look around, along with local participants, you will see a lot of international visitors as well; therefore, I believe that this is the best opportunity for Georgia to appear on hikers’ world map. This gives Georgia even more visibility, I expect even more participants next year, which will increase the number of tourists in Svaneti annually,” – Ambassador of Austria in Georgia Mr. Thomas Muhlmann says.

Preparations for the event take place the whole year round, there are also basic rules that the organizers of this event equally observe and check in all the countries.

“We have safety rules and food-related regulations that we observe and check. We prepare for all of this during the whole year. We’ve got a one-month course implemented by the event organizers,” – Quality control manager of Highlander Adventure says.

Becho gorge was the starting location for highlanders. A total of 117 hikers got registered, including both Georgians and foreign visitors who came to Georgia specially for this occasion, they visited Svaneti together with their families and friends.

Highlander Adventure brought up to 500 visitors to Svaneti, which created additional sources of income for local small enterprises.

“We’ve covered 8 million people through our precampaign and let them know about Svaneti’s nature and culture. Up to 500 people visited Svaneti this time, who naturally are staying in local hotels, eat local food and this will be a direct financial benefit for the locals,” – Head of Highlander Georgia project Tedo Makashvili says.

The first day the event participants were supposed to travel from Becho gorge via Guli pass, Lamaaji, Tskhakvzagari and Mestia to Zaargashi.

“I really love hiking and often travel through various routes in United Arab Emirates. When I heard about the Highlander event and this opportunity came along, I thought why not try it? We got registered about 1 month ago and here we are today. It’s so good to meet these people in this environment and see Georgia too,” - One of the hikers Elen Divai says.

The hikers finished the first day in Zaargashi. The most difficult route has been completed. Energy is still there, along with tiredness, however, as the participants say, you get tired in a different way here.

“I live in Georgia and I’ve been to Svaneti several times before, but still every time I get here I breathe in the air with pleasure, the vistas here are so beautiful. This must be an incredible experience especially for the people for whom all of this is absolutely new,” – a Highlander Georgia participant tells us.

Hikers had the opportunity of cooking and tasting Tashmijabi and Chvishtari based on the local recipes, one of the goals of the project was to create new sources of income for small businesses and popularize their products.

Nanuli Chelidze is from Ushghuli village where she helps the visitors discover traditional Svanetian dishes. Ms. Nanuli shared her cooking experience with the event participants.

After the Svanetian culinary masterclass, Austrian Ambassador Thomas Muhlmann joined the second day of the hiking.

“Highlander Adventure is implemented with the support from the EU, Austria and Sweden funded project GRETA. They believed in the project’s potential right from the start and decided to help us. Since then, we’ve been closely cooperating with each other, all of us are involved almost in all the aspects of the project,” – Head of Highlander Georgia project Tedo Makashvili says.

Second day’s route was relatively shorter. Starting from Zaargashi, the tour participants went through Ipderi, Gvaldi, Zaardlashi, Murshkeli, Zhamushi, Cholashi and Zhabeshi and camped at Tetnuldi ski resort for the night.

Along with local culinary masterclasses, the hikers also took part in creation of Svanetian traditional hats. The global event finished in Khalde village. The participants who reached the finish line were granted the Highlander status.

The long-distance hiking event supported by the EU, Austria and Sweden came to a finish line. However, as the project organizers say, this is not really the final chapter. New adventures will continue in the following years. According to them, along with Svaneti, Highlander plans to mark other regions of Georgia on hikers’ maps as well, which promises even more visibility and increased revenues to the country.

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. 

Source (GEO): BM.ge

Author: Anuka Jokhadze

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Svaneti hosted Highlander global event with the support from the EU, Austria and Sweden
Svaneti hosted Highlander global event with the support from the EU, Austria and Sweden
Svaneti hosted Highlander global event with the support from the EU, Austria and Sweden