The very first Awards Ceremony of the Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards has held at Funicular Restaurant Complex in 20th November 2015. More than 350 guests were attended the Ceremony.

With a careful waiting we were hoping that our project would be proceed in proper way, but we never could have imagined that the Ceremony would be so successful and Festive mood permeated. Awards Ceremony was consists from 3 parts: first was welcome drink, where our guests meet each other, had conversation and prepared for the main part of the Ceremony, which was Awarding ceremony process, at this time all were exited and waiting for the winners, the third part was after party, where all our guest had a good time, enjoy live music, delicious food and relaxing atmosphere.

The main mission of the project as we already mentioned before is promote country’s tourism and hospitality industry in a new level and develop the Tourism and hospitality progress of the country, it was a chance to celebrate the highest-achieving tourism businesses and brands that work towards creating a positive image of Georgia worldwide. On the Tourism segment oriented directions, like are: hotels, restaurants, wine producing companies, tour operators, travel agencies, events and others are gathered at an Award Ceremony.

On the Ceremony were named the winners and finalists of 21 categories of nominations, which become:

1. BEST STANDARD ACCOMMODATION AWARD – the winner was Hotel Alpina.
2. BEST OUTBOUND TOUR OPERATOR AWARD – the winner became Interco Travel Group.
3. BEST ADVENTURE TOURISM AWARD – and the winner of this category was Rafting.ge.
4. BEST DELUXE ACCOMMODATION AWARD – congratulation to Hilton Batumi.
5. BEST SKI ACCOMMODATION AWARD – winner -Hotel Carpe Diem.
6. BEST SEA ACCOMMODATION AWARD – and the winner became Radisson Blu Batumi Hotel.
7. BEST SPA ACCOMMODATION AWARD – winner was Lopota Lake Resort & Spa.
8. BEST HOSTED ACCOMMODATION AWARD – and won Envoy Hostel and Tours.
9. BEST BUSINESS TOURISM AWARD HOTEL – and won Tbilisi Marriott Hotel.
10. BEST LUXURY ACCOMMODATION AWARD –winner become Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel.
11. BEST CULTURAL AND HERITAGE TOURISM AWARD – the nomination winner become The Funicular Restaurant Complex.
12. BEST BUSINESS TOURISM AWARD TRAVEL AGENCY – BTL Georgia.
13. BEST INCOMING TOUR OPERATOR AWARD – congratulations to CAPITAL GEORGIA TRAVEL.
14. BEST VISITOR INFORMATION AND SERVICES AWARD – won TravelGIS.
15. BEST NEW TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AWARD – nomination winner was Adjara Hospitality Group.
16. BEST TOURISM EDUCATION AND TRAINING AWARD – and the winner of this category become Discover Georgia.
17. BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN IN TOURISM WINERIES AWARD – winner become Chateau Mukhrani.
18. BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN IN RESTAURANTS AWARD – won Tsiskvili Group.
19. UNIQUE ACCOMMODATION AWARD – the nomination winner become Rooms Hotels.
20. BEST DESTINATION MARKETING AWARD – (the finalists) 1) Georgian Tourism Association; 2) Tourism & Reality
21. BEST FESTIVAL OR EVENT AWARD – (the finalists) 1) International Festival Night Serenades; 2) Tbilisi Summer Set.

Awards team congratulates all mentioned winners and finalists, participants and guests.

Also Awards team congratulates and appreciates for their support all our partners: MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF GEORGIA; TBILISI CITY HALL; BATUMI CITY HALL; GEORGIA DEPARTAMENT OF TOURISM AND RESORTS OF AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC OF AJARA, MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND MONUMENT PROTECTION OF GEORGIA. An Independent Auditor of the Award – BDO Georgia Company. Sponsors: Mercedes-Benz Georgia, Julius Meinl, Hidro Dizayn, Yan Air, Inglot, Sam Raan, TV Lux, HRS, Weekend Max Mara, Elements Group, Dessange, Sarajishvili, Tbilisi Marketing, Bagrationi, Kamelia, Savaneti, Event Promotion, DHL, Financial Office, Funicular Restaurant Complex, TAV Georgia, Ardi, Tbilvino, Favorite Style, KMS, UTS.

The main organizer of the project is Ukraine Company LLC “Elements Group”, which is already second year leads active in market.

It should also be noted that Georgian National Tourism Administration is a Co-organizer of the Welcome to Georgia! National Tourism Awards.

As we already mentioned the Ceremony the project rules was totally transparent and fair, the jury members have selected the finalist companies, afterwards the independent auditor – “BDO” summarized final information and carefully checked it.

The project organizers definitely believe in Awarding Ceremony will have it’s future in Georgia and become annually project as well.  Next year the Welcome to Georgia awards ceremony is planned to be held in a different city of Georgia. It will help to promote other regions of the country, for participants it is a good chance to review and increase their creativity and experience. The project opens a wide door for the key players of the tourism and hospitality sphere, gives them a good chance to have direct contact with their customers; creates a perspective platform for develop tourism business in Georgia as a whole.