Tourists in Georgia may have to purchase COVID-19 insurance package. The issue has been under discussion for several months, but due to the fact that the state has repeatedly changed the date of flight resumption, no final decision was made on mandatory COVID-19 insurance for tourists.
The issue became more active after the government decided to resume flights on February 1. As the insurance sector itself says, they are ready to offer tourists affordable insurance packages that will not increase their travel expenses.
According to them, offering mandatory insurance for tourists will make sense only if the country receives a significant number of tourists.
Devi Khechinashvili, head of the Insurance Association, does not rule out that the so-called COVID-19 insurance will not be mandatory for all tourists. He notes, those tourists who have valid COVID-19 insurance of other countries, which are in line with Georgian standards, will be able to enter the country without mandatory COVID-19 insurance.
"The government wanted to implement the approach that Georgians love - not to bother anyone. Consequently, there was no absolute obligation regarding travel insurance. Namely, tourists, who will have insurance issued in another country in line with the Georgian standards, can enter the country without mandatory insurance. However, the effectiveness of this tool is doubtable. Who will control at the border what kind of insurance the tourist has? If we take into account that most of our tourists come from those countries, which do not have high standards of travel insurance," said Devi Khechinashvili, head of the Insurance Association.
