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Manchester, United Kingdom — 22-25 September 2009

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Welcome to our new member – Georgian National Tourism Administration

Oct 1, 2019

Interview with Tatia Khaindrava -Senior Brand Development Coordinator

Tell us your story. How did Georgian National Tourism Administration get started
Georgia is one of the most unique and undiscovered tourist countries in the world. It is located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, having a western border with the Black Sea and a northern border with the Caucasus Mountains. Thus our nature is quite diverse and varies from a mild to semi-desert climate. Georgia has been declared by the UNWTO to be the ‘Cradle of wine’ with an 8000 year old tradition of wine-making. The Georgian alphabet is one of the 14 unique alphabets of the world.

Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) was created to raise awareness of the country and help visitors discover its diversity and richness, leaving them with a lasting desire to return. GNTA started operations in 2012 as a Legal entity of Public law, a part of the system of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.

What are the main goals and objectives of the Georgian National Tourism Administration?
The main mission of GNTA is to ensure sustainable tourism development and increase awareness of Georgia as a unique tourist destination in the international market, as well as to continue increasing the number of tourists, which directly impacts the development of the country’s economy.

What is your favourite success story from your organisation?
Georgia is becoming one of the most trendy destinations worldwide and statistics prove this fact – as a country with a population of about 3 million people we hosted 8,679,544 international visitors in 2018.

What can we expect to see from Georgian National Tourism Administration in the future?
According to the 2025 strategy our main goal is to reach 11 million international visitors. We intend to attract high spending markets and implement marketing activities accordingly. Thus our main target markets are: UK, Germany, France, Poland, US, Israel, etc.

Which trends do you see in educational and active youth travel?
Active youth (millenials, generations Z and Y) is the segment that is one of the most valuable and of high potential in terms of travel worldwide and in Georgia in particular. We would like to develop and create the relevant infrastructure and products to meet their demands.

How do you work to ensure the health and safety of young travellers in Georgia?
Georgia is one the safest destinations in the world and currently takes 5th place according to the numbeo index. Aside from diverse nature, an unbroken 8000 year old wine-making tradition, rich culture and mind blowing cuisine, safety is one of the main advantages of Georgia as a travel destination.

What was your motivation to join WYSE Travel Confederation?
UNWTO reports regarding the significance of youth travel and our own observations made it clear that in terms of attracting high spending travellers in future we need to invest in the youth segment which is the future of world travel. Private sector engagement in tourism should also develop the infrastructure and products that would be of interest to this particular segment.

Member snapshot

LEPL – Georgian National Tourism Administration is a Legal entity of Public law, a part of the system of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, independently conducting activity by state control.

The goals and objectives of the Georgian National Tourism Administration (GNTA) are the formation and implementation of the Georgian tourism development state policy, promotion of sustainable tourism development, promotion of high export income growth and job creation in the country on the basis of tourism development, attracting foreign tourists to Georgia as well as the development of domestic tourism, and promotion of human resources development in the field of tourism destinations, infrastructure and tourism.

Membership: WYSE Travel Confederation NTB/OTO Member

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