Business Georgia to Host ‘Tourism Industry’ Forum
The Business Forum “Tourism Industry 2016” will be organized by the JSC Business Georgia, 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 will be a high-level meeting to address how tourism can contribute to the development of the private sector in Georgia.
The event is expected to bring 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.
"Tourism Industry 2016’ promises to be 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," said Ana Gogishvili, General Director of Business Georgia. "This is the first time that Business Georgia is organizing the Tourism Forum and we are bringing participants to a beautiful touristic region Adjara. It will provide 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 are specially designed to provide insights that are practical and to share experiences on how to capture the hearts and minds of tourists in the challenging and competitive landscape of Georgia.
The Forum is to be moderated by Sandro Vepkhvadze, Editor-in-Chief of Business Georgia, and will include two sessions of individual speeches and presentations by main players in the sector.
The first session will provide an overview of the Georgian Tourism Industry, presented by the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) followed by Ramaz Bolkvadze, Minister of Economy and Finance of Adjara, who will share with the audience the success story of the Adjara region.
The Business Forum will touch almost all types of tourism, including: Eco-tourism, Historical and Cultural tourism, Leisure tourism, Adventure & Sport tourism, Winter tourism, Gambling, Hospitality and Health tourism.
The last part of the Forum will include a discussion panel with the facilitators who are involved in implementing various programs for promoting tourism industry in Georgia.
The representatives of the GNTA, International Investors Association, Partnership Fund, Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, and Agency of Protected Areas of Georgia will be discussing tourism advantages of Georgia, target markets, barriers and problems, and at the close, they will introduce future plans for the sector.
Forum participants will have great networking opportunities during the coffee-break and non-official part of the forum, which includes a lottery and After-Party.
On September 30, the event will be followed by Business Visits organized by Business Georgia. Forum participants will have the opportunity to visit a number of companies, learn about their projects in the tourism direction and find out about investment opportunities in Batumi.
Katie Ruth Davies