BUSINESS FORUM “TOURISM INDUSTRY 2016” WAS HELD IN ADJARA
The Business Forum “Tourism Industry 2016” organized by the JSC Business Georgia, was held on 29-30 September in Castello Mare Hotel & Wellness Resort in Tsikhisdziri. Under the theme ‘Past, Present and the Future of Tourism in Georgia’, the event was the high-level meeting to address how tourism can contribute to the development of the private sector in Georgia.
The event brought together around 300 local and international business leaders in tourism, high-level policy makers, specialists and experts from the public and private sectors, academicians and media representatives to exchange ideas and knowledge as well as share experiences to enhance tourism development further.
General Director of Business Georgia, Mrs. Ana Gogishvili said, “Tourism Industry 2016 is an exciting and engaging tourism forum for Georgian and international guests to learn of success stories of Georgian Tourism, current issues, solutions and best practice case studies.”
“This is the first time that Business Georgia is organizing the Tourism Forum and we are bringing participants to beautiful touristic region Adjara. It provides the perfect backdrop for participants to learn from and network with each other in a vibrant and culturally as well as historically rich atmosphere. The theme and topics were specially designed to provide insights that are practical and to share experiences on how to capture the hearts and minds of tourists in this challenging and competitive landscape.” Mrs. Ana Gogishvili added.
The forum was moderated by Mr. Sandro Vepkhvadze, Editor in Chief of Business Georgia and it included two sessions of individual speeches and presentations by main players of the sector. The first session provided overview of Georgian Tourism Industry, presented by the Georgian National Tourism Administration. Mr. Sulkhan Khalvashi, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of Adjara shared with the audience the success story of Adjara region.
The Business Forum touched almost all the types of tourism, including: Eco-tourism, Historical and Cultural tourism, Leisure tourism, Adventure & Sport tourism, Cruise, Winter tourism, Gambling, Hospitality and Health tourism. The last part of the Forum included discussion panel with the facilitators who are involved in implementing different programs for promoting tourism industry in Georgia.
The representatives of Georgian Tourism Association, International Investors Association, Partnership Fund, Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, Agency of Protected Areas of Georgia discussed tourism advantages of Georgia, target markets, barriers & problems, and in the end, they closed the forum by introducing future plans of this industry.
On 30 September, Forum participants had the opportunity to attend B2B meetings with the foreign investors and Georgian companies. The forum was closed by the Minister of Economy and Finance of Adjara, Mr Rmaz Bolkvadze, who personally met with investors to discuss opportunities of investing in Adjara.
