{"id":5025,"date":"2022-11-02T07:30:46","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T06:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/?p=5025"},"modified":"2022-11-02T23:49:24","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T22:49:24","slug":"zurab-pololikashvili-panama-has-to-develop-an-authentic-tourism-where-visitors-can-meet-more-local-people-and-their-gastronomy-this-is-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/2022\/11\/02\/zurab-pololikashvili-panama-has-to-develop-an-authentic-tourism-where-visitors-can-meet-more-local-people-and-their-gastronomy-this-is-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Zurab Pololikashvili: “Panama has to develop an authentic tourism, where Visitors can meet more local people and their gastronomy, this is the future…”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our guest is a character of great importance in\ntourism worldwide, especially in times where we are working for the recovery of\nthe industry under a new route and priorities. Born in Tbilisi, the capital of\nGeorgia, a thriving country in Europe, Zurab Pololikashvili is currently the General Secretary of the\nWorld Tourism Organization, a professional with a clear vision of tourism, applied\ninnovative strategies as Minister of Economic Development of Georgia, leading\nhis country to increase the numbers of International visitors: from 1.5 million (in 2009) to\nover 2.8 million in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, thanks to the work that the country has been\ndoing in terms of sustainable tourism and the excellent relationship with Panama\nMinister of Tourism, Ivan Eskildsen, Zurab attended the opening of the National\nTourism Convention held recently in Panama City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before leaving to visit for the first time the Panama\nCanal and take his flight to the United Nations in New York, Zurab\nPololikashvili gave The Visitor the opportunity to do an exclusive interview\nwith him. This multi-faceted professional of the highest level who was also\nAmbassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia, as well as General\nDirector of FC Dinamo Tbilisi, a professional football team in Georgia, spoke with\nus about the opportunities of our country in terms of tourism, what we still\nneed to work on and where the industry is headed globally in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Panama is\nfull of great opportunities to exploit at a historical level, traditions and\nnature. How can our country do in general terms to be able to live up to other countries\nin the region that have already been developing these strengths for years?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the point of view of the\nWorld Tourism Organization, we give great value to what the country has. First\nplace is the infrastructure, then history, culture and people well prepared. I\nbelieve that where there is more work to do is in the promotion outside the\ncountry abroad, that is where Panama must put more strength, more promotion,\nmore international events that will give the country the possibility of\nbringing more tourists from other countries. I repeat, the country has it all\nand a greater number of international tourists could easily arrive. It must be\nunderstood that the pandemic stopped this process and it is in a recovery\nprocess and I have no doubt that the National Tourism Convention that has been\norganized will give a boost to motivate the country and attract more tourists.\nThe other thing I want to mention is that Panama has a very diversified tourism\nproducts, there is nature tourism, adventure tourism, business tourism, along\nwith infrastructure such as hotels, convention venues, airport, tourist routes,\nnature, people, traditions, gastronomy and “shopping”. The country\nhas everything the tourist is looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Panama\nCanal is the one unique resource of our country. What is your feeling about\nthis tourist attraction of international importance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter I finish my\nparticipation in the National Tourism Convention I am going to visit the Panama\nCanal, it is the first time I am going to go, I have seen it on television and\nin reports and it seems to me that it is a unique attraction, it is not just a\nchannel where ships come in and out, it is an attraction that all people must\nsee. The Panama Canal is the tourist visit <\/strong>of the country, it is not the\nvisit to check the number of ships that pass, it is a tourist attraction to see\nand experience it. It is the number one tourist product in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you\nfeel tourism will develop in the future, what will change and evolve?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe war, the pandemic, and\nall kinds of crises have shown us that it is very difficult to make plans and\nmake them happen, but at the same time we have seen that sustainability is very\nimportant for any country, as well as regional development and the generation\nof new destinations. tourism as well as expanding the current ones, which is\nsomething that Panama is doing quite well, giving the motivation to continue\nthrough this forum such as CONATUR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We must support the indigenous community and families that live in the different regions of the country, and that is where we see the future. I cannot say what tourism will be like in the future, but it is very clear that with the steps we are taking: investing in education, innovation, sustainability, as well as in the preservation of culture and nature, will help us all to maintain a balance with the arrival of millions of tourists. It is not easy and there is sustainability, and I see that Panama has potential there, a country that has many opportunities to develop authentic tourism, we have seen and people with whom we have spoken these days who are unique in the world, that is what the tourist wants. The tourist is already used to seeing large hotels, similar restaurants that are replicated everywhere, although that is fine too, but what the new tourist is looking for, which is quite fashionable, is domestic tourism, regional tourism and rural tourism. That is why we have announced the “Best Tourism Villages” project, a star project for the World Tourism Organization, and we are very happy that we already have three towns from Panama that have entered this program, and I think that tourism goes and there are thousands of places worldwide where there are opportunities to develop new destinations. The tourist today seeks an authentic and local tourism, where Visitors meet more local people, their gastronomy and learn more about the country, there I see the future of tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our guest is a character of great importance in tourism worldwide, especially in times where we are working for the recovery of the industry under a new route and priorities. Born in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, a thriving country in Europe, Zurab Pololikashvili is currently the General Secretary of the World Tourism Organization, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5025"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5056,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5025\/revisions\/5056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}