Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 14 August, the Hyatt Regency Tashkent hosted a presentation of Georgia’s tourism potential.

This meeting was held with the participation of 9 leading Georgian companies in the segment of MICE-corporate and business tourism and 80 tour operators of Uzbekistan, on the initiative of the National Tourism Administration of Georgia and the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on tourism development.

Starting from 11 August 2019, a series of joint friendly events took place in both countries to mark the opening of a direct regular flight Tashkent-Tbilisi-Tashkent. We wrote about this earlier in previous materials.

The Tashkent event at the Hyatt Regency Tashkent hotel was opened by the Ambassador Extraordinary of Georgia to the Republic of Uzbekistan Zurab Abdushelishvili. The ambassador greeted the guests and noted the importance of these joint events in the implementation and development of the tourism potential of the two countries.

“Today’s presentation is devoted to the development of the tourism potential of Georgia. Tourism in our country is multifaceted, starting with mountain tourism, ecotourism, sea tourism, tourism business. And now begins the development of medical and MICE tourism. The opening of the regular flight Tashkent-Tbilisi-Tashkent was the starting point in the development of new relations in the tourism sector of both countries,” he said.

“Now it is very well felt that Uzbekistan is gaining momentum in this industry. I want to emphasize that the chairman of the UNWTO is my compatriot, the former Georgian ambassador to Spain, Zurab Pololikashvili, who was one of the first to congratulate me on his appointment as ambassador to Uzbekistan and said that he was always ready to hold large tourism events of international importance for Uzbekistan. A direct flight, our friendly relations, an exchange of culture, I am deeply convinced that soon all this will bring good results in the relations between our countries,” the Georgian ambassador said.

A presentation on the tourism potential of Georgia was made by Magda Sanikidze, Business Development Manager for Tourism at the National Tourism Administration of Georgia.

“Why should you come to Georgia? Any available destination, convenient geolocation, modern infrastructure. Our country ranks 5th in the international security index and 4th in the index of rapidly developing countries, while preserving a unique and ancient culture, ancient alphabet, oral folklore, marked by UNESCO on a representative list of intangible cultural heritage, famous Georgian cuisine, the art of winemaking - all this is one of the few qualities of the tourism potential of Georgia,” Magda Sanikidze told the participants.

A colorful presentation of tourism potential ended with meetings between tour operators of both countries in B2B format, where an exchange of views and best practices, the opening of new tourist destinations took place. The final touch of the event was a raffle from the organizers with a trip to the main tourist centers of Uzbekistan and Georgia, as well as a colorful buffet, including a tasting of Georgian national wines.