Batumi hosts Int’l Tourism Forum on sustainable industry development
The Forum comes a day ahead of the World Travel Awards, hosted in Batumi to reveal the winners of leading European travel destinations and agencies, with the Department revealing participants of the event would be hosted for tours throughout Adjara and a programme involving master classes, cuisine tastings, folklore and dance performances introducing the region. Photo: Adjara Tourism Department
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Georgia's Black Sea city of Batumi on Thursday hosted tourism industry professionals to discuss sustainable development of the field as part of this year’s Batumi International Tourism Forum.
The Tourism Department of the western region of Adjara said industry experts from various countries, leading specialists and representatives of government agencies were hosted to discuss the main topics of the event.
It said a panel session led by Jaba Putkaradze, the Minister of Finance and Economy of Adjara, involved Kevin Bossino, the Executive Director of the Gibraltar Tourism Board, and the heads of international media outlets Euronews, Wanderlust Travel Media, Emerging Europe and Earthpix.
Tinatin Zoidze, the Head of the regional Tourism Department, led a “special presentation” on Batumi as Europe's “leading four-season tourist destination”, introducing tourism products, services and opportunities of the locality.
The Forum comes a day ahead of the World Travel Awards, hosted in Batumi to reveal the winners of leading European travel destinations and agencies, with the Department revealing participants of the event would be hosted for tours throughout Adjara and a programme involving master classes, cuisine tastings, folklore and dance performances introducing the region.
Nominees in the Awards include the city of Batumi and its Botanical Garden in competition against counterparts from Madrid, Edinburgh, Berlin and other European countries. The coastline Batumi Boulevard has been nominated as a “leading tourist attraction” in Europe alongside the Eiffel Tower, Sagrada Familia, Coliseum, Palace of the Bookings and Acropolis.
Georgia is hosting the Awards ceremony for the first time, with the event set to involve 300 representatives of the tourism industry, media and tourism government agencies from 24 countries including Portugal, Croatia, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Norway, Switzerland, Gibraltar and the Netherlands.
Last year’s Awards selected Batumi as the Europe's Leading Emerging Tourism Destination, with the prize awarded to the city for four years in a row. It also earned the World’s Leading Emerging Tourism Destination title in 2022.