ATA Activities 2008
• ATA at the ITB - During 5-8 March 2008 ATA members attended the ITB (The world’s leading Travel Trade Show) in Berlin
• ATA at the Batumi Tourism Fair - During 3-5 April 2008 ATA members attended the Batumi Tourism Fair
• ATA at the CTF - During 10-12 April, 2008 ATA members attended the Caucasus Tourism Fair
• ATA - New members - After establishing of ATA (2007) (There were 5 founding members), after first stage there were added 5 more members: Intourist Palace Hotel (Batumi), Georgian Palace Hotel (Kobuleti), Calypso Travel – tour company, Batumi Airport and Turkish Airlines as associated members. Also as associated members were accepted the guesthouses located in Nigazeuli (Shuakhevi region) and Gobroneti (Keda region)
• ATA – Visit of US expert Mr. Thomas Tait - ATA reached an agreement with the Tourism Department of Adjara AR and the local governor’s office to financed for financing the follow-up trip of Mr. Thomas Tait (former Minister of Tourism of the Nevada State – USA, currently – President of the Nevada Tourism Alliance)
• Photo Exhibition – ATA / IBDIPC / CHF - Photo exhibition about tourism potential of Adjara mountain (July 2008) in cooperation with IBDIPC & CHF. The photos can be seen on -
www.boke.ge
• Hosting bicycle tour (Athens – Beijing) - ATA & Tourism Department of Adjara hosted tour participants, during the stay in Batumi where they were introduced to the Batumi tourism sites and it was arranged atraditional Georgian evening dinner
• Assistance by buildup of guesthouses in Gorboneti / Nigazeuli ATA & CHF
• Tourism Survey – Adjara 2008 - ATA together with TCC arranged the own tourism research in the region of Adjara (September / October 2008, mainly in Batumi hotels)
• 1st National Tourism and Business-integrated financial and project management conference 28-29 November 2008 held in Batumi
• ATA by Strategy Workshop 12th/13th December 2008 in Telavi
• Cooperation – GTA – Georgian Tourism Association - ATA established good contacts and cooperates with GTA. There were several workshops/conferences, fairs where ATA and GTA representatives participated jointly. GTA can help ATA in developing contacts with their partners – e.g. Armenian and Azerbaijan tourism associations. In 2009 it is planned to have some joint workshops/conference in Tbilisi, Batumi, Guria
• Support /cooperation- TAG - Tourism Association of Guria - ATA together with TCC supported the formation of Tourism Association of Guria (formed March 2008): support for improvement for the tourism section in Georgia, common strategies/projects, Support for promotion of Guria Region, benefit for ATA members tour companies (arranging interesting tours in the Guria region)
• ATA - ,,KALANDA” in Guria - Tourism Association of Guria (TAG) and the Goverment from Guria invited ATA to the traditional event in Guria ,,KALANDA
• Web Page from Adjara Tourism Association (ATA)
www.adjaratourism.org
ATA future steps 2009
• To improve the coordination with Adjara Tourism Department - strategy (long term & short term) – joint cooperation - identifying action / result oriented strategies, monthly meetings – sharing information, important issues etc, participation of Adjara tourism marketing plan, tourism brochures, establish one contact person, which will be in charge of sharing all news, planned event/projects, Tour Fairs
• Tourism Fairs - ITB 2009, in Berlin – ATA consultant Mr. Kurt Reitz will attend the ITB. ATA together with GTA will have a press box at the ITB – with some information about Georgia. Members can submit there brochures for the ITB; CTF 2009 in Tbilisi – ATA will attend the fair. We can use the booth of Adjara Tourism Department; Tourism Fair in Batumi – ATA will negotiate with Tourism Department to have a booth for its members;
• The better cooperation with the regional tourism associations/organization - planning the common steps for 2009 - GTA, TAG; Appointing one contact person within the Department of Tourism – the Person will be in charge of sharing news, planned events/projects; regional conference for government and stakeholders (May/June 2009); common steps for promotion / marketing of Georgia; joint cooperation and identifying action / result oriented strategies
• Improvement the effectiveness from ATA - In near future (spring time) it is planned to have a meeting to become member of ATA: Rcheuli Villa Hotel; Bakuri Hotels; Wonderland and Argo-tour – tour companies; 3-4 major restaurants – as associated members -Mtirala National Park; ATA action ,,Became a member for 2009”; Common Steps for Promotion / Marketing from ATA; Appointing one contact person from each ATA member, which will be in charge of sharing news, planned event/projects;Improvement the Cooperation with the international Associations.
• Tour guides certification standards - ATA plans to work with close cooperation with GTA and Tourism Department of Georgia (and Adjara AR) to develop the standardization and qualification scheme for tour guides and hospitality related sphere
• Participation at the Workshop orginized by the Ministry of Education Of Georgia - ATA participated in 2 days workshop focusing on vocational education
• Smile service promotion - ATA is planning to facilitate the promotion of SMILE service in tourism sector - summer, 2009
• Tourism column in local newspaper - To have a weekly column on tourism related issues which will be coordinated by ATA. It will be good to increase awareness about the tourism related problematic, ongoing developments etc. Also it will be good PR for ATA.
• Customer Service Trainings - it is planned to do free customer service trainings for ATA members April/May 2009. It will be organized by TCC (Tourism Competence Center) and the German consultant Mr. Kurt Heinz Reitz
