Teenage mouintain guide from Georgia’s Svaneti region representing country at Global Youth Tourism Summit
The teenage guide joined young representatives from 60 countries in discussing visions of tourism development through master classes held for them during the event. The topics involved challenges of the tourism sector and importance of sustainable development in the field. Photo: Georgian National Tourism Administration
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Giorgi Kochkiani, a 17-year-old mountain guide from the village of Ushguli in northern Georgia’s mountainous Svaneti region, represented the country at the Global Youth Tourism Summit in the Italian city of Sorrento, the Georgian National Tourism Administration announced on Wednesday.
The teenage guide joined young representatives from 60 countries in discussing visions of tourism development through master classes held for them during the event. The topics involved challenges of the tourism sector and importance of sustainable development in the field.
Participants of the Summit also held meetings with ministers of various countries and also met celebrities like football player Didier Drogba, invited as a special guest and honorary ambassador of the event with the goal of sharing his experience with young people.
Other notable appearances including a welcoming address by Pope Francis and one by famed Italian actor Sophia Loren.
A high-ranking ministerial meeting as part of the Summit was attended by Tamar Koriauli, the First Deputy Head of the Administration.
A group of 20 Georgian mountain guides have obtained international licences recognised in 25 countries worldwide after undergoing a trail guide retraining course co-financed by the European Union.
The Georgian Mountain Guide Association (GMGA) which has been developing adventure guiding institutions and training programmes in the country since 1998 is now officially a member of the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA).
Georgia has been elected to the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) for four years, announces the Ministry of Economy of Georgia. The election was held today at the 66th meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe in Athens, Greece.
Georgian Zurab Pololikashvili has been re-elected Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) for four a year tenure. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani have congratulated Pololikashvili on Twitter.
Young people have a “special role” in building peace, they can “jointly” contribute to the restoration of trust and the implementation of various peace initiatives, as well as ensure a peaceful future and prosperity, the Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili said at the event Youth in Peacebuilding in the country’s capital Tbilisi.