The “Tourister” Tourism Festival for the year 2023 is set to grace Batumi from November 10th to 11th, offering a two-day extravaganza. During this event, up to 400 festival attendees will have the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in enlightening speeches and engaging panel discussions led by prominent figures from the global tourism industry and seasoned local experts. Among the illustrious speakers are representatives from distinguished organizations such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, Google Cloud, Arctur, Boats and Go, Sojern, Ljubljana DMO, Glovo, Bolt, Arealy, Biliki App, Hill Inn, and more.

As a part of “Tourister 2023,” three industry giants, namely Google Cloud, TripAdvisor, and Expedia, will delve into crucial themes and share their invaluable insights. They will also showcase international success stories tailored to the local landscape.

Google Cloud’s Digital Transformation Expert, Zhivko Gurmanov, will shed light on the arsenal of tools provided by Google Cloud to the hospitality and real estate sectors. He will demonstrate how these tools can be harnessed to gather data and enhance customer relationships. What’s more, Google Cloud will extend the generous offer of up to $4,000 worth of business development resources to small and medium-sized enterprises attending the festival.

Laura Milos Sánchez, the Eastern European Business Development Coordinator of Expedia, will delve into the evolving behaviors of tourists, particularly focusing on novel aspects of travel planning and emerging trends. She will draw upon case studies from America, Great Britain, and France, with a special emphasis on the hotel and aviation industries.

Alejandro Gross, Customer Service Manager for Eastern Europe at TripAdvisor, will unravel the intricacies of changing tourist behavior and explore the distinctive traits exhibited by different generations, including Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z. He will also shed light on TripAdvisor’s responsive strategies to these transformations.

Notably, Google Cloud and TripAdvisor will conduct in-depth workshops on the aforementioned topics, offering a more comprehensive understanding for representatives from the realms of hotels, restaurants, and real estate.

An integral workshop will be dedicated to the introduction of tourism tax in Georgia. With the backing of the USAID Economic Governance Program, efforts are underway to establish a tourism fee within the city of Batumi, aimed at enhancing the legislative and tax framework to benefit tourism. This tourism tax is specific to overnight stays by tourists and does not burden local business operators.

The workshop will address the potential implications of tourism tax regulations, the relationship between Value Added Tax (VAT) and tourism tax administration, and will draw inspiration from the Slovenian model of tourism tax collection and management, particularly in Ljubljana. Additionally, strategies for refining data analytics related to tourism tax will be explored.