NEW TRENDS IN MOUNTAIN AND HERITAGE TOURISM: THE CASE OF UPPER SVANETI IN THE CONTEXT OF GEORGIAN TOURIST SECTOR

Upper Svaneti, a mountainous region of Georgia located in the north-west of the country and surrounded by the spectacular peaks of Greater Caucasus mountain range, is a good example of tourist potential deriving from the interaction between natural and cultural features. In this paper we will first outline an introductory framework of tourism in Georgia. Then we will analyse the case study of Upper Svaneti, which is nowadays undergoing a phase of early tourist development, thanks to a combination of factors: the pathway of Georgia towards a greater political and economic stability; an increased accessibility of the area thanks to the improvement of the road network and the establishment of air connections with Tbilisi; an intensive process of rehabilitation of the human settlements, combined with the creation of tourist facilities; a growing image following the inclusion, in 1996, of its famous medieval stone towers in the UNESCO World Heritage, which make the mountain landscape of Upper Svaneti extraordinarily interesting from the cultural, architectural, ethnographical - and therefore tourist - points of view.