In November and December of 2022, as part of the project “Economic Development of Oni Municipality via Business Clusters Creation and Investment Attraction” implemented under the European Union (EU) initiative “Mayors for Economic Growth,” tourism and food industry clusters were registered in Oni Municipality.
In particular, the tourism cluster was founded by 18 enterprises including guesthouses, restaurants, crafts people, and tourism service providers.
The tourism cluster has the following goals:
- Improving the attractiveness of Oni Municipality to tourists;
- Diversifying tourism services and offers;
- Supporting the development of sustainable tourism;
- Improving the tourism infrastructure;
- Enhancing human resources by developing knowledge and capacities;
- Improving access to finance;
- Improving access to inputs;
- Developing inter-sectoral linkages; and
- Providing information and services to cluster members.
“The creation of a tourism cluster will support the realization of Oni Municipality’s potential in the fields of balneological and health, adventure, ethnocultural, gastronomy, and cultural tourism. This will positively affect the competitiveness of SMEs, support job creation, attract investments, and improve the social and economic conditions in the municipality,” said Manana Bolkvadze, manager of the tourism cluster.
Meanwhile, the food industry cluster was founded by 15 enterprises, representing a variety of trades including beekeeping, cattle-breeding and fruit-growing.
The food industry cluster has the following goals:
- Increasing the popularity and sales of food products produced in Oni Municipality;
- Improving labor force capacities;
- Supporting the development of bio enterprises;
- Improving access to finance;
- Improving local intersectoral linkages; and
- Providing information and services to cluster members.
“Forming a food industry cluster is an important step in the acceleration of the sector’s development, as the cluster will support improvements with regard to SMEs’ competitiveness, job creation, and access to finance, while also stimulating the development of the innovative capacities of entrepreneurs and contributing the to economic prosperity of the Oni Municipality,” said Tengiz Akobia, manager of the food industry cluster.
