Tourism in rural regions of Georgia and Armenia has a long tradition, however, many structures had been developed during Soviet times under the framework of centrally planned economy and forced collectivism. Today, rural tourism is widely discussed by the governments as a means for regional development and as an alternative source of employment in agricultural areas and mountain regions. Lela also participated in the Pilot Transdisciplinary Case Study Courses in Georgian and Armenian. These field courses, which involved the Master and PhD students and teachers from the Tbilisi State University (TSU) and Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU) were the main outcomes of cooperation, trainings and experience exchange of the Caucasian universities with the University of Naturals Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) and IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems. The goal of the courses was to use case study teaching format and to implement transdisciplinary in teaching (TD) and interdepartmental cooperation in partner universities.
Lela, together with the students and teachers discussed the cooperation model with the local community and other stakeholders. Lela will use this experience for her PhD to develop an appropriate model of sustainable community cooperation in mountain regions of Georgia. Moreover, the findings was used as a case of the APPEAR project Transdisciplinarity for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Caucasus Region | CaucaSusT. The project aims at introducing a transdisciplinary case study teaching format at the two partner universities and to address real-life challenges of sustainable tourism development in the Caucasus region.
Lela Khartishvili is an APPEAR scholarship holder and a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Andreas Muhar, at the Institute of Landscape Development, Recreation and Conservation Planning, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). Her research is focused on challenges and opportunities of community based tourism development in mountain regions of Georgia and Armenia. Lela graduated from the Faculty of Geography of Tbilisi State University and began her professional career with working in tourism institutions and rural development agencies in Georgia. Lela led the tourism and rural development project at the Elkana Biological Farming Association and initiated the creation of the first rural tourism network in Georgia. She participated as a national tourism consultant in various international projects, and also created her own company THE GEORGIAN, which publishes an annual magazine on tourism and trade.