Armenia-Georgia railway service to resume on June 15

Armenia and Georgia will once again be connected by rail, as the Yerevan-Tbilisi-Batumi route will resume on June 15, Georgia’s Minister of Economy of Georgia Natia Turnava has announced. Railway communication between the countries was previously closed to Covid-19 induced travel restrictions.

“Railway communication between Armenia and Georgia has been restored. On June 15, the first Yerevan-Tbilisi-Batumi train will start operating. This means that tourists from the neighboring country who often visit Georgia, will be able to come to our Black Sea resorts, to the capital, and travel to other tourist destinations”, Turnava said.

According to the Georgian Railway, tickets will be available in the nearest future.

In addition to Armenia, negotiations are underway with the Azerbaijan Railways. The Tbilisi-Baku-Tbilisi route will be resumed as soon as the land border with the neighboring country opens.

Armenia is one of the five leaders in terms of the number of visitors to Georgia. According to the National Tourism Agency, in April 2021, 8,331 visitors arrived in Georgia from Armenia, which is 3.9% more than in the previous year.

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On June 1, Georgia opened its land borders, which were closed over a year ago, on March 15, 2020, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

This has caused great problems for the tourism sector, as most tourists enter Georgia via land borders.

The tourism sector, which is in deep crisis, has long been demanding the opening of land borders along with the relaxation of other types of restrictions.

Tourism industry officials say it is not yet clear what the prospects for tourism in the summer are.

At this stage, the vaccination rate in Georgia is still low (which is also considered a decisive factor in the tourism sector). As of June 7, 307 cases of coronavirus have been detected in the country and 24 people have died.