Academic staff from the Geography Department at the University of Zurich and the Human Geography Department at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University collaborated to develop course - Sustainable Mountain Development. Project financed from the Swiss Leading House for Science and Technology Cooperation at the University of Geneva and received a UZH Teaching Fund from in 2021 for an educational app to enhance cross-border student collaboration."
Based on the research, acknowledging the increasing dependency on such a sensitive economic branch as tourism, we suggest the new tourism advancement concept under the title of “supportive tourism”.
The research aims to delve into the process of how global phenomenon, namely expansion of tourism and protected areas shape livelihood practices of local mountain residents.
the project serves primary aim to study the spatial peculiarities and obstacles of integration process of local community-driven economic activities with local tourism supply chain.
we argue that the observed rapid growth of tourist sector in the areas under investigation triggers economic growth, however the development is still fragmented and incomplete, as other branches of economy like agriculture, trade, etc., that should be connected to tourism activities, do not enjoy the expected growth.