13th International Caucasian Tourism Fair was opened in Tbilisi

13th International Caucasian Tourism Fair “CTF 2011” was held in Expo Georgia on April 14-16. The event is organized by National Tourism Agency and Expo Georgia. The exposition was opened by Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Vera Kobalia; she spoke about the importance of analogous events for the development of tourism. The Minister also examined special stands and products prepared by the participants of the events and personally spoke with them. Representatives of different countries, leading Georgian tour operators, hotels and other services are participating in CTF 2011. Georgian regions have also presented their own stands.

International Tourism Fair is one of those places where Georgian companies can make new contacts and finds new partners, meet potential customers who are willing to purchase their tourism packages. As for National Tourism Administrations, such events are a means of effectively positioning the country’s tourism potential.

This year’s fair is peculiar for its scale and content; tourism potential of all regions is well presented at the fair, including: sea and mountain resorts, national parks, health tourism, cultural and adventure tourism and etc. The fair is mainly designated for the local market i/e inner tourism. It is important that the visitors who go the fair from April 14 to April 16 will have the possibility to plan their holidays right away. The fair may be understood as a message for Georgian citizens so that they visit the exposition and plan their summer vacations to any part of Georgia beforehand.

Stands of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Iran and Kazakhstan are also represented at the fair. It is remarkable that companies with various profiles are participating in the event. 14 tourism companies, 18 hotels from different parts of Georgia, 3 airlines, souvenir mafucaturers from all parts of Georgia, and professional tourism schools – 55 exposition stands and 180 organizations are participating in the event in overall. Besides various resorts particular trends of tourism are also represented at the fair such as hunting tourism and extreme tourism. The fair is designed for all age groups; adventure tourism must be of particular interest to youngsters.

It is remarkable that the number of participants increased by 50% this year. “CTF 2011” has a larger scale and represents a wider range of products this year. Visitors can purchase handmade souvenirs from all over Georgia at the fair. The aim of the fair is to promote small businesses and souvenir business. Unlike past fairs, this year’s fair fully represents all Georgian regions and foreign companies got interested to participate in the fair.

Study sessions and a conference named “Innovative Tourism” will be held for students during the fair. It is important that thanks to National Tourism Agency, companies from foreign countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Belarus and Poland) also came to participate in the event. It is a great opportunity for Georgian companies to hold meetings with their foreign colleagues. It is remarkable that tours to different Georgian resorts will be raffled during the event. “Rcheuli” Network will raffle two tickets to any of its hotels in Batumi, Sighnaghi, Telavi or Kutaisi. M-Group will raffle tickets to Kvareli Lake and “N-Tour” raffles two Pegasus Airlines tickets and a trip to Turkey.