8 independent reviews for Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan small group tour

Dear Josephine, Thank you for taking the time to review your trip. We’re really pleased that you enjoyed the tour and hope that you gained a lot from your experiences in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. I’m sorry you felt that your vacation didn’t benefit local people or reduce environmental impact. We always make a conscious effort to ensure that our presence benefits communities in the places that we visit. On this tour specifically, we aim do this by visiting the more remote and traditional parts of these countries, often ignored by mainstream tourism, so that they are able to gain financially. By choosing to stay in locally owned hotels and guesthouses, use the services of local guides and drivers and dine in family homes or traditional restaurants, we ensure that money stays within the local economy. The entrance fees that we include also contribute to the preservation of the sites and monuments that we visit, ensuring that they are looked after and future generations are able to enjoy them in years to come. Kind Regards, Jim

Dear Will, Thank you for taking the time to send your feedback to Responsible Travel about your recent trip to the Caucasus region. I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed the tour overall and that the beautiful mountainous scenery of Ushguli was a real highlight for you as it is for many of our travelers. With regards to the guesthouse in Svaneti, Georgia, this is a family-run guesthouse. There are several of these in Svaneti and the family not only live in the same property but also prepare the meals. These guesthouses are often larger than the typical family home and this is so that they can cater for groups, such as the one you were part of. It would be extremely difficult to find a home that doesn’t operate as a guesthouse, yet would open their doors to visitors and be able to accommodate a group of 12. The other guesthouse is in Kutaisi and again, we don’t list this as a homestay either and so I’m really sorry if it was interpreted in this way. Georgia in general is becoming increasingly popular as a destination and so whichever hotel you stay in - and there are few to choose from - you will inevitably come across other tourists and nationalities. We have revised our trip dossiers to say 'family-run guest-houses’ where appropriate, in hope that this will avoid any further confusion for our travelers. The same applies to Svaneti as a region, with regards to increasing numbers of tourists - Mestia in particular - and so we are working with our local team on the ground to try and make some changes here to enhance the experience in this region. We have recently looked into whether we could stay in Ushguli - as opposed to Mestia - but it doesn’t look as though this could be an option without increasing the duration of a tour that is already 20 days long. The drive to Mestia is quite long as I’m sure you’re aware, and the drive back to Tbilisi even longer and so to travel to Ushguli and then back to Tbilisi from here, would add an extra 2 hours to both journeys - there and back. There are also fewer accommodation options in Ushguli and the few options that there are, are of a lower standard than those in Mestia which we don’t necessarily feel that our travelers would be happy with. We will be extending the amount of walking we do in Ushguli for 2020 though, and will also be including a visit to a family home to gain a more in-depth insight into Svan life. I’m really sorry if you found this aspect of the trip to be unfulfilling and we have taken all of your feedback on board with the aim to make this better for future travelers. I do understand that there are a lot of miles involved on this trip but unfortunately there is no way to cover the highlights of these countries without covering some long distances. We have considered flying between countries but this wouldn’t reduce environmental impact unfortunately. The other reason we haven’t included flights from country to country is because we would usually have to be at the airport 2 hours before a flight, then we have the flight itself and getting out of the airport on the other side and so it doesn’t necessarily mean that time would be saved either. With regards to flying to Georgia from Azerbaijan, we finish the trip in Sheki which doesn't have an operating airport and so for the moment it makes more sense to drive to the Lagodekhi border and then onwards to Tbilisi, with the option of visiting the Sighnaghi hill town en route. We work with local teams on the ground in all three countries that you visited, who employ local guides and drivers, therefore directly contributing to local people and the local economy. We also avoid large hotel and restaurant chains, therefore contributing to smaller local businesses. We are extremely grateful that you have taken the time to share your constructive feedback and would like to assure you that we have taken all of your points on board. This kind of feedback really does go a long way when improving our tours for future travelers and so we’re pleased that you’ve taken the time to share your views with us and Responsible Travel. Kind Regards, Jim