Recognizing the Potential: WTO Statistics Committee Meeting Held in Georgia

The 5th session of the World Tourism Organization (WTO)’s Technical Advisory Board and 16th meeting of the Statistics and Tourism Satellite Accounts Committee was held in Georgia on January 25-27, 2016.

Within the framework of the event, experts of the WTO in the field of statistics visited Georgia.

WTO Executive Director, Márcio Favilla, also came to Georgia in order to meet the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Dimitry Kumsishvili, and the head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA), Giorgi Chogovadze.

The Statistics and Tourism Satellite Accounts Committee includes 12 member countries, including Austria, Spain, Brazil, and Chile. Georgia was re-elected for a second term as a Member of the Committee.

In the past, Georgia held the post of Vice President of the Committee and this year the country’s contribution was marked by holding the event in Georgia as opposed to in the Committee’s base country of Spain.

Membership of the Committee and the hosting of the meeting in Georgia is a vital step towards improving the gathering of tourism statistics and approximation to international standards, as well as for the introduction of modern approaches.

In addition to this session, under the auspices of the UN’s World Tourism Organization, another large scale event will be held in Georgia. Georgia will host the first global conference on wine tourism in autumn, 2016, which will further the tourism potential of Georgia as a recognized wine country.

Ana Akhalaia