Georgia and Israel sign an agreement on tourism

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Vera Kobalia and Minister of Tourism of Israel, Stas Misezhnikov signed a memorandum on October 19 on deepening of tourism relations between the two countries.

Following the signing, a meeting was held. According to Vera Kobalia, consensus with the Ministry of Transport of Israel on the signing of a new agreement regarding increasing the number of flights between the two countries has also been reached. Three airlines from each country will be given the opportunity to fly the routes.

In addition the ministers discussed abolishing the visa regime between the two countries.

The Minister also visited the largest Israeli airlines.

According to the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development the new memorandum will promote the inflow of more businessmen and tourists to Georgia and will also ease the flow for Georgian tourists the other way. Representatives of the largest Israeli airlines expressed interest in conducting flights to Georgia including “El-Al” and are expected to visit Georgia very soon.

Stas Misezhnikov said that increasing the number of flights between the countries will boost the number of Georgians visiting Israel and added that abolishing the visa regime would also have a positive impact on tourism.

The Israeli Tourism Minister also invited Georgia to a tourism exhibition which will be held in 2011, where special working groups comprised of tourism companies and airlines will be formed in order to plan further strategies.