Georgian PM at ITB Berlin opening: Georgian hospitality “trademark” of country
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday launched this year’s edition of ITB Berlin, a major international tourism fair running in the German capita. Photo: PM's press office
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Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday launched this year’s edition of ITB Berlin, a major international tourism fair running in the German capital and featuring Georgia as the Host Country, by highlighting hospitality as a “trademark” of the country to an audience of 2,500 in the opening event.
Hosted at CityCube Berlin, the opening gala for the event also involved 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.
This is @ITB_Berlin - the world's leading travel trade fair. #ITBBerlin is OPEN FOR CHANGE and it's our pleasure to welcome Prime Minister @GharibashviliGe ???????? , @BMWK Robert Habeck, @RegBerlin @FranziskaGiffey, Jessica Simpson @WTTC and Dirk Hoffmann, #MesseBerlin pic.twitter.com/nnyMmyQYi3
— Messe Berlin (@MesseBerlin) March 6, 2023
When you meet Georgian people [and] visit Georgian families, you will experience a phenomenon that is the [trademark] of our entire history - Georgian hospitality, which is truly infinite. For Georgians, hospitality is an identity-defining, inviolable, always living tradition despite the changes of time and circumstances, and this unique feature of the Georgian character has not disappeared even in the most difficult and dramatic periods of history”, Garibashvili said at the launch.
The PM spoke about the “unique” natural environments and protected areas of the country, noting the inscription of the Colchis wetlands in Georgia’s west to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021.
On a small area, together with wetlands, Georgia boasts unique high mountain ecosystems - Kazbegi, Tusheti, Khevsureti - [as well as the] semi-desert Vashlovani, where bioreserves have been created”, he said in his introduction of ecosystems to the audience, while also noting the bird migration routes over the southern Javakheti region and the country’s Black Sea coast in the west.
The PM told the launch event only a small part of the history of Georgia, and the “great culture of our small country”, were being represented at ITB Berlin.
We hope this will make you want to visit our country and get to know better our picturesque nature, great history and culture, and most importantly - the hard-working, open-hearted and infinitely hospitable Georgian people”, he said.
Georgian artists took over the stage following the opening remarks to headline a cultural programme under the heading “Infinite Georgian Culture - From the Beginnings of Viticulture to Modern Avant-garde Art” and perform for the audience.
Let the show begin! Official Host Country of this year's #ITBBerlin, #Georgia, welcomes the global #travel industry with a gigantic show. You cannot be LIVE in Berlin? Join the #livestream on https://t.co/muB3M0r72m & ITBxplore. pic.twitter.com/xO5VuB6O8l
— ITB Berlin (@ITB_Berlin) March 6, 2023