On October 26, 2021 presentation of the Tea Road Association took place in the village of Melekeduri. The event was attended by current and potential members of the Asssociation, as well as by representatives of the tourist project donor organisations. In particular, by the Head of the USAID/Georgia Economic Security Program Mark McCord, CCEH Director Mikheil Nibladze, and Bakhvi 1 HPP Project ESG Manager David Mikeladze. The guests were briefed about the goals, objectives, future plans and needs of the tea Road Association.
"The Tea Road Association was founded on July 20 of 2021. It aims to promote tea culture both as tourism and entrepreneurial activity, create the Tea Road's tourist route, seek and develop trade relations and by that create new jobs in the region, as well as promote agriculture and Guria's tourist potential. Guria is the native land for tea and we strive to correctly leverage the existing potential preserving traditions, further develop and advance tea cultivation and its production bringing it to a new level using our knowledge and expertise," said Tea Road Association Founder Aleko Mameshvili.
The donor organizations' support program envisages support for the Guria Tea Road Association to build links with the tourism industry so that tea positioning in the region achieves the level similar to the positioning of wine in Kakheti. The latter includes advancing tourist products, increasing the tea producers capabilities, creating the Tea Road routes, which will connect estates with relevant locations, produce authentic products and most importantly provide adequate hospitality services to tourists. Once the project is launched, the visitors of the Tea Road tour can taste tea, participate in tea making, enjoy local cuisine and gain insights into ethnographic particularities of the Guria villages. "CCEH develops energy projects in Guria. However, we are also interested in development of the region, improvement of the quality of life, creation of the new job places and utilization of the existing potential to bring maximum benefit to the local communities. Apart from implementing social projects, we attempt to leverage our expertise, experience, and connections to position the region in a right way and make potential investors interested in Guria. The MoU signed with the USAID yesterday is a result of these efforts. Under the MoU, we will cooperate to enhance tourism potential of the region and attract high-value tourists to Guria," noted CCEH Director Mikheil Nibladze. "The creation of the tourist route Tea Road in the region will undoubtedly contribute to development of small and medium entrepreneurs both at a local and national level, as well as to attracting high value experienced international tourists and making them interested in the region. This is the very reason why our program cooperates with CCEH to create new opportunities and services that would further advance tourist products and hospitality services across the country," said Mark McCord, Chief of the USAID/Georgia Economic Security Program. The tourist route Tea Road is a joint initiative of local authorities and private sector. The launch of the Tea Road tourist project was preconditioned by a number of significant factors. First, tea seeds in Georgia were first planted in Ozurgeti as far back as in 1847 and later tea plant was spread across the country. Second, it is important that tea is an only culture with a vegetation period of six months (from April through September) that offers tourists a unique opportunity to take part in the process of picking tea leaves and making tea. The tourist route Tea Road, representatives of the host locations and a small and medium tea enterprise are members of Tea Road Association.