|
The Pearl of the Black Sea
The Republic of Abkhazia sits at the southeast corner of the Black Sea. The coastal areas have a warm, subtropical climate. The lofty Caucasus Mountains (which comprise about 85 percent of the country) reach nearly 14,000 feet, so that on a hot day in the summer, one can look from the beach through palm trees at snow-covered peaks a few miles away.
Abkhazia is about 100 miles long and less than 30 miles wide, with a population of about 220,000. Russia is to the north and west of Abkhazia and its premier beach resort, Sochi, is just north of the border with Abkhazia. Georgia is on Abkhazia’s southern flank.
I have traveled to Abkhazia from Russia for almost five years. The first thing I noticed when I crossed the border was Abkhazia’s dramatic beauty. The coastal road follows the Caucasus Mountains and the views are unparalleled in the entire Black Sea region.
The Hotel Ritsa and nearby park with a colonnade in Sukhum, the capital of Abkhazia.
Russians have long come to Abkhazia for summer holidays. This is apparent during the summer season when the border is choked with more than a million tourists heading to Abkhazia’s beaches. The border traffic is increasing because of Russian investment in infrastructure and the millions of people who can afford to travel.
The only thing missing on the Abkhaz side is the proper facilities for tourists. There is an extreme shortage of hotel rooms, with the gap being filled by very modest guesthouses and aged Soviet-era resorts.
It is obvious Abkhazia has room for many new hotels and resorts. With the dramatic mountain peaks, there should be ski resorts like the ones popping up across the border in south Russia. Other sites of interest include a major Orthodox Christian monastery, the deepest cave in the world, beautiful lakes, and many beach activities.
Abkhazia is blessed with other advantages: the airport, which is currently closed, has the longest runway in the Caucasus, there are opportunities to develop and sell hydroelectric power, and oil has been discovered on the coastal shelf.
Abkhazia will also benefit by the tremendous development happening in nearby Sochi. Sochi, although a beach resort, is the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics with the mountains only a short drive away. Sochi will also be home to Formula 1 Racing in 2014 and will have World Cup soccer matches in 2018.
|
Locals playing cards and dominoes near the center of Sukhum.
The result is a huge investment in development of venues and infrastructure. Sochi has become the largest construction site in the world. The beaches bring nearly four million Russian tourists and Abkhazia’s transformation will attract millions more tourists, skiers, and sports enthusiasts from all over the world.
None of this has been lost on the Abkhaz who have invited me to work with them on the privatization of approximately 160 state-owned properties and businesses, including most of the best resort locations.
This is a unique opportunity. There are few post-Soviet economies that have yet to privatize their most valuable assets. Abkhazia’s beach areas are an opportunity to get in on the ground floor in what will develop into the Black Sea’s answer to Croatia or Cancun.
Abkhazia has a long history of wine-making, going back thousands
of years. Most of the wine is consumed locally or exported to Russia
PHOTO: CREATIVE COMMONS
Abkhazia is undeveloped. There is very little money and, until recently, the only investors were Russians. But that is changing.
I have opened the first American-owned firm in Abkhazia.
My profile is attracting international interest. The Abkhaz are enthusiastic about political and economic integration with the rest of the world. They would like to demonstrate that they are independent from Russia, which protects them militarily.
For their part, the Russians would like to see stability and prosperity in the small nation that sits across the border from Sochi, their new international destination.
|