Today.Az » World news » 'Holding int'l tourism forum in Georgia is important'
10 May 2012 [11:38] - Today.Az
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili considers it important to hold an international tourism forum in Georgia.
At the opening of the 54th meeting of the World Tourism Organization's European Commission in Batumi yesterday Saakashvili said that holding the forum of such level in the country contributes to a growing number of tourists.
"I do not know any other country in the world, where number of tourists grows as in Georgia.
In the year, when I became president, 120,000 foreign tourists visited Georgia, most of whom were Georgians with foreign passports. The year before last we had two million tourists, last year - almost three million, this year we expect about four million tourists, and the next year - five million," Saakashvili said.
He said the tourism development is due to several important aspects, first it is the economic aspect, which is related to employment of population.
"In addition, the world economic crisis affects tourism least of all. Therefore, many people work in the tourism industry. There are great hotels in Batumi, but there is no free room in any of them for the last few weeks, which allows residents of Batumi and nearby villages to open small private family hotels," Saakashvili said.
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