Georgian PM to launch ITB Berlin tourism fair with Georgia as Host Country

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili will launch ITB Berlin, a major international tourism fair, in the German capital next month with a “brilliant” and “spectacular” show of traditional Georgian dances and music performances to mark the Host Country status for Georgia, the exhibition revealed on Wednesday.

The opening gala for the event, set to be hosted at CityCube Berlin, will also involve Robert Habeck, the German Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey and Dirk Hoffmann, the Managing Director of Messe Berlin fairgrounds.

About 2,500 guests will be involved in the official opening show under the heading “Infinite Georgian Culture - From the Beginnings of Viticulture to Modern Avant-garde Art”.

The 45-minute cultural programme will involve a brief look at Georgian history starting from the Greek myth of the Argonauts to the present day, while also featuring performances of ethno jazz and classical music artists, while the stage will also be set for electronic music producers and the Sukhishvili Georgian National Ballet. 

The main entrance of the venue. The banner hanging on the wall reads: "Be Greated With Infinite Hospitality". Photo: GNTA

Organisers said the opening show would also involve Rustavi Ensemble in their performance of the “unique Georgian style of polyphonic singing”.

The audience can also look forward to the artistic director and chief conductor of the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra Nikoloz Rachveli, the internationally renowned opera soprano Nino Machaidze, and the Georgian pianist Dudana Mazmanishvili, who is causing a sensation on the world's stages with her lyrical talent and extraordinary virtuosity”, a release from the fair said.

Other artists will include the Georgian violinist Liza Batiashvili, composer and musician Dato Evgenidze and experimental music producer Nika Machaidze.

Maia Omiadze, the Head of the Georgian National Tourism Administration, said in an interview with agenda.ge all visitors of the show would receive “special gift kits” that include a “modernised” traditional Georgian blue cotton tablecloth, a puzzle game involving the ornaments of the piece, souvenirs and cup pads.

Omiadze’s full interview included a detailed overview of plans of the Georgian organisers to host the fair under the Host Country status, and can be found here.

The opening show of ITB Berlin will be unveiled on Monday, with the fair set to run between March 7-9 in the German capital.