Networking Visit to Baku, Azerbaijan

A GTA Delegation has visited Baku, Azerbaijan on 16th-18th of December to meet with local tourism institutions to discuss a regional strenghthening of cooperation between the private sector tourism institutions of Georgia and Azerbaijan.

A follow up process to develop regional tourism routes and regular information exchange has been agreed upon with the Department of Tourism, the Tourism Association of Azerbaijan, the Tourism Information Centre in Baku and the Azerbaijan Tourism Institute.

BSEC Tourism Associations Forum, Athens

FORUM ON THE COOPERATION OF THE ASSOCIATIONS OF TRAVEL AGENCIES OF THE BSEC MEMBER STATES

Athens, Greece 22-25 November, 2008

BSEC Forum on the Cooperation of Associations of Travel Agencies of the member states of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation was held in Athens on the 24th of November.

Participants from Georgia were Department of Tourism and Resorts (DoTR) (Beka Jakeli - head of department) and Georgian Tourism Association (GTA) (Nata Kvachantiradze- Director).

The objective of the forum was to establish a network of Associations of Travel Agencies of the BSEC member States:

- Exchange views, experience and best practices
- Promote multi-destination packages to promote tourism flows among the BSEC countries as well as attracting tourists from third countries.
- Exchange information concerning the tourist infrastructure of the Member States, the tourist events and fairs organized in their territory, etc.

The Forum created hopes for a future cooperation of Associations of Travel Agencies within the BSEC member states and constitutes the first step for an establishment of a Union of Travel Associations of BSEC member states.

Outcomes of CTS'2008 International Tourism Fair in Yerevan, Armenia

CTS’2008 the 8th International Annual Tourism Fair in Yerevan
November 7-9

A delegation from Georgian Tourism Association (GTA) has participated in the International Annual Tourism Fair in Yerevan.

The fair was organised by Armenian Ministry of Economy, Armenian Association of Travel Agents (AATA) and Armenian Chapter of American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) with the support of USAID “Competitive Armenian Private Sector” project.

As a result of the fair Georgian Tourism Association (GTA) together with Armenian Association of Travel Agents (AATA) and Armenian Hotel Association (AHA) are planning to hold a workshop about tourism development problems and perspectives in South Caucasus.
The tourism stakeholders from Azerbaijan will be involved also.

The objective is to strengthen the regional coooperation on a private sector and association level.

The workshop is planned to take place in Tbilisi in spring 2009.

Conference for Business Integration and Private Public Partnership in Tourism

Conference for Business Integration & Private Public Partnership in Tourism was held in Batumi, Adjara on November 27./28. 2008

The 2 days conference plus workshop was organised by Adjaran Tourism Association to initiate a closer cooperation of stakeholders for Tourism Development in Adjara.

Priority of the workshop was to facilitate closer cooperation of 3 Tourism Associations in Georgia: Adjara Tourism Association (ATA), Tourism Association of Guria (TAG) and Georgian Tourism Association (GTA) in areas of networking, communication & cooperation with regional and national Tourism Departments.

Georgian Tourism Association invites local tourism associations in Georgia to join this process and contribute their visions for tourism development in Georgia. More information at

http://www.tourism-association.ge/
info@tourism-association.ge