5th Tourism & Hospitality Conference Held Online with the Support of Bank of Georgia

The Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards is working non-stop to adapt to the new reality and has pledged to do its best to encourage the industry again.

“The 2020 Tourism and Hospitality Conference was held on the opening day of domestic tourism, as we wanted to help and motivate our colleagues to start their activities with enthusiasm and renewed vigor,” says the founder of Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards, Maryna Chayka.

The 5th Conference on Tourism and Hospitality was held on June 15 via Zoom, and lasted five hours, seeing the participation of representatives of government agencies as well as the private sector. The event was attended by: Tbilisi City Hall, Adjara Tourism Department, Georgian Ecotourism Association, Enterprise Georgia, Georgian Airports Union, BDO Georgia, Bank of Georgia, and Hotel Contract Georgia.

A panel discussion was also held with the main topic ‘Industry during the Pandemic and Beyond.’ It was moderated by Maia Sidamonidze alongside active participants Giorgi Molodinashvili for aviation, and Keti Mikashavidze for hospitality.

Due to the developments in the world, the topic of the conference was devoted from beginning to end on the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism industry. The pandemic also led to a change in the usual format, and the conference, which has hosted more than 400 guests in the past, was held online this year.

“The Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Award has been held in Georgia since 2015. It has successfully established itself as a reliable, unique platform that has made a significant contribution to the development of the Georgian tourism and hospitality industry, and the number of nominees and winners are growing by the year. Now, the support of tourism is even more important due to the new reality, which is why we are glad that we are contributing to the development and encouragement of the Georgian tourism and hospitality industry,” the Bank of Georgia representative noted.

The aim of the project is to encourage the Georgian tourism and hospitality industry, to increase the awareness of companies and brands working in this field, and to better represent Georgia on the international tourism market. The Bank of Georgia has been a co-organizer of the project for several years and actively supports the industry.

“Four days on from the conference and we are still receiving requests to share the recording of the conference. We’re happy that we did something interesting for people. Thank you to all participants and co-organizer Bank of Georgia,” Chayka said.