THE STATE REPRESENTATIVE ADMINISTRATION

In Imereti, State Representative Zviad Shalamberidze, together with Tskaltubo Mayor Gennadi Balanchivadze, met with North American Balneology Association Vice President Marcus Coplin and Deputy Director of the Georgian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development's Resorts Development Agency Lela Potskhverashvili.

The parties talked about the importance of the mineral and thermal waters of Tskaltubo and Baghdati and the need to maximize the use and development of the potential of healing tourism.

"Membership of the Association of European-Historical Thermal Cities is very important for this.

Also, in order to develop balneological tourism, we are ready to cooperate with the Balneological Association of the United States of America.

There are 33 mineral and thermal water deposits in Imereti. Of these, Tskaltubo and Bagdati, Sairme have the most visitors. For the development of the mentioned resorts, it is necessary to make more investments in the resorts, to arrange the existing infrastructure and to raise awareness worldwide.

The priority for us is to accelerate the development of medical and health tourism, exploit new markets and increase the international competitiveness of Georgia as a tourism brand. Therefore, special attention should be paid to sharing the experience of different countries, as well as to the use of modern technologies in treatment and recovery activities" - Zviad Shalamberidze.

As part of his visit to Imereti, Marcus Koplin was also in Tskaltubo and got acquainted with the condition of the existing balneological resort.

The vice-president of the North American Balneology Association expressed readiness to create a balneological alliance between Georgia and the United States of America, which will play a significant role in the development of the balneological field and medical tourism in the country.