What This Page Covers and Who It Applies To
Insuring tourists and guaranteeing their safety is one of the core legal obligations of an entity engaged in tourist activity in Georgia. This page explains what the Georgian law on tourism and resorts requires from such a subject: how the concept of a tourist is defined, on which documents tourist services must be based, who is responsible for insuring the tourist, what is compensated under that insurance, and how the state program for the protection and safety of tourists operates.
The page is useful for tourism business entities, resort operators, and tourists who wish to understand their own rights. Keep in mind that this statute is a framework act: it establishes the basic concepts and obligations, while the detailed rules on insurance and safety are governed by separate pieces of Georgian legislation. Where the law is silent about amounts, deadlines, or procedures, this page says so plainly instead of filling the gaps with unfounded assumptions.
Who Qualifies as a Tourist under the Law
Every obligation discussed below attaches to the statutory concept of a tourist. Under the law, a tourist is a natural person who travels voluntarily outside the boundaries of his or her permanent place of residence, for rest, health improvement, business, or other purposes, for a period of not less than 24 hours and not more than one year, and whose travel is not remunerated from the financial sources of the place of temporary stay. This time bracket marks the boundaries of the legal concept: travel lasting less than 24 hours or more than one year falls outside it.
Tourism itself is defined as the free, voluntary, temporary movement of a person away from his or her place of residence for rest, health improvement, sightseeing of historical and cultural monuments, and/or other purposes. The law separately defines medical tourism — the use of resorts for treatment, medical examinations, and other medical services.
The law further defines tourist resources as the combination of natural, historical-cultural, educational, and socio-household resources together with the infrastructure existing on the territory of Georgia that satisfies the demands of tourists. Among natural therapeutic resources used for treatment, prophylaxis, and rehabilitation the law lists mineral waters, therapeutic muds, karst caves suitable for treatment, the sea, forests, and the therapeutic climate.
How Tourist Services Are Delivered and Documented
Tourist services are delivered in the course of group and individual, as well as organized and unorganized, tourist travel. The documentary framework discussed below therefore applies in the same way to a single independent traveler and to an organized group.
Tourist and resort services are rendered on the basis of a service contract, a travel voucher, or a route book. It is precisely this document that determines the type and volume of services to be provided to the tourist. There is also an important exception: an unorganized tourist may not be provided with this service at all. When assessing insurance and safety obligations, this exception must be taken into account.
Tourist Insurance: Who Insures and What Is Compensated
The law regulates the question of insurance directly: the tourist is insured by the entity engaged in tourist activity, under a contract concluded with an insurance company and in accordance with the procedure established by legislation. In other words, arranging insurance is the obligation of the organizer of the trip, not a matter left to the discretion of the tourist.
As regards the objects of insurance, the law provides that insurance of the tourist’s life and health, as well as damage caused to insured property, is compensated in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of Georgia. The procedure and conditions for receiving compensation are not spelled out in these framework provisions — they are governed by other legislative acts.
An important caveat: these provisions state neither the insured amount, nor the size of the insurance premium, nor any compensation deadlines. Discussing concrete figures is therefore possible only after consulting the relevant legislation and the terms of the specific insurance contract. You will not find any such figure on this page, because none appears in the norms it describes.
The Safety Guarantee and the State Program
The law regulates safety at two levels. The first is the state level: the authorized body governing the sector, together with the relevant ministries, other agencies, the executive bodies of the Autonomous Republics of Abkhazia and Adjara, and the executive bodies of other territorial units, develops a program for the protection and safety of tourists and coordinates its implementation. The program is thus created precisely in this format of inter-agency cooperation.
The second level concerns business entities: entities engaged in tourist and resort activity are obliged to ensure the safety of tourists and vacationers in accordance with the rules established by the legislation of Georgia. Note that this obligation extends not only to tourists in the narrow sense but also to vacationers. The concrete safety rules themselves are established by separate legislative acts.
A Compliance Checklist for a Tourism Business Entity
If you carry on tourist or resort activity, the following checkpoints will help you comply with the requirements described above:
- determine whether your client meets the statutory definition of a tourist — travel outside the permanent place of residence lasting at least 24 hours but not more than one year;
- deliver services on the basis of a service contract, travel voucher, or route book, and describe precisely in the document the type and volume of the services to be provided;
- arrange the tourist’s insurance under a contract concluded with an insurance company, in the procedure established by legislation;
- observe the rules ensuring the safety of both tourists and vacationers, as established by Georgian legislation;
- take into account that an unorganized tourist may not be provided with this service.
What Is Left to Other Legislation and When to Consult a Lawyer
The law on tourism and resorts is a framework act: it imposes obligations but entrusts the detailed insurance procedure, the compensation process, the concrete safety rules, and questions of liability to separate legislative acts. That is why you will not find deadlines, sums, or procedural details on this page — they are not contained in the norms described here, and quoting them imprecisely would be misleading.
If you face a specific disputed situation — for example, determining the object of insurance, the volume of services recorded in a travel voucher, or the application of safety rules — a legal consultation will help you assess the situation correctly. The specialists at Legal.ge will review your documents and explain which norms of Georgian legislation apply to your case.