National Tourism Administration highlights 2022 donor projects, post-pandemic recovery efforts in end-of-year summary

Projects implemented by the Georgian National Tourism Administration throughout 2022 alongside its donor organisations and efforts for aiding the post-pandemic recovery of the country’s tourism sector have been highlighted in the end-of-year summary of the agency’s work.

Published on Tuesday, the GNTA’s 2022 review noted the Georgia Human and Institutional Capacity Development, a project facilitated with the funding of the United States Agency for International Development for enabling achievement of the Administration’s commitments and strategic goals.

The Governance Reform Fund project, planned in cooperation with the United Nations Development Fund and aiming to strengthen the institutional capacity of domestic information centres and the improvement of their service quality, was also highlighted.

In other items for the year-end review, the state body said its priority throughout the year had been to "quickly restore tourism and promote the private sector" following the downturn during the Covid-19 pandemic.

For this purpose, organised by the National Administration of Tourism, supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, the UNWTO Academy held thematic seminars for representatives of the [Georgian] tourism sector", it noted.

In activities around international cooperation, the GNTA noted memorandums signed with tourism organisations from Switzerland, Croatia and Bhutan this year, while noting similar memorandums were planned to be reached with agencies of Bulgaria, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Oman.

The GNTA also mentioned the Global Youth Summit in Italy, where the Administration presented Giorgi Kochkiani, a 17-year-old tour guide from northern Georgia’s highland Svaneti region, as the representative of the country.

To find out how the GNTA is promoting Georgia's tourism potential on the international arena, read Agenda.ge’s interview with its head Medea Janiashvili here.