Nice to meet: Natia Amiridze

Meet Natia Amiridze, our lady in Tbilisi, Georgia. She is part of the Minicards family since last year and starting up the business with lots of positive energy and two partners: Tina Osepashvili and Ani Kvaratshkelia.

‘Tourism is booming in Georgia'

Natia Amiridze - Minicards Georgia

What should people know about you?
“I’m producing a weekly theatrical show for people visiting Georgia called ‘Welcome to Georgia – The Musical.’ It’s an English tale about our country, its people and the culture, traditions and history. We are running the third season now with succes. Before that I was communication manager for Red Bull. When I had the idea for this show, I quit that job.” 

You’re running Minicards since last year. What inspired you to start this business?
“Tourism is booming in Georgia. Last year seven million tourists have been visiting our country. Also Ryanair has announced plans to launch its first routes out of Georgia, starting next year. Good news! Let’s hope this will turn out well for the whole tourism industry. This also means that more and more companies in the tourism sector are booming. Such as Minicards.”

So you saw opportunities.
“Exactly. For the show 'Welcome to Georgia' we advertise in hotels and I noticed that accommodations don't know how to inform all those tourists. They work with flyers and brochures, but nothing is really organized. In that way, there are many opportunities for Minicards. I saw the Minicards in London and I thought: wow, that might work!”

You are setting the business up right now. Are hotel managers just as enthusiastic as you?
“In the beginning they were a bit sceptic, because Minicards is a new product. But once we had the big hotel chains to corporate, they small ones were willing to work with us too. Employees in hotels do no longer need to hand out flyers and brochures, because tourists can pick Minicards from the displays themselves; that’s a big advantage. Besides that it looks organized and modern.”

 What is the status right know?
“We already have a great number of hotels placing Minicards displays. Now that we have accomplished that, we can actively approach advertisers and convince them that our product is better than a flyer or brochure. How? Minicards are simple, easy to use and tourists get good offers or discounts. ”

 How do you see the future of Minicards Georgia?
“Positive. We have ambitions to expand to the coast (Batumi) and the second big city of Georgia, Kutaisi. In those places there are good opportunities, because the tourism industry keeps growing. With Minicards we can respond perfectly to that. Hopefully we will be up and running in Tbilisi soon.”

Why do you think Minicards is a powerful product for Georgia?
“In Georgia offline advertising works. We don’t really feel the online competition. In fact, I know some tourist companies that invested in online marketing, but the results are disappointing. Our target group is middle aged and mainly comes from Europe and surrounding countries. When it comes to tourist information these people reach out to offline sources. That may change in the future, but for now this is the way to go.”