I’m incredibly honored to be here with all of you.

This place is very special, because if any other place reminds me of Batumi, it is Cannes and Nice. 

Did you know that Batumi was built by same architect as the city of Nice? He decided to stay in Batumi where he lived out the rest of his days.

Batumi has a rich architectural history.  You can see beautiful 19^th century architecture stands side by side with new, innovative architecture from the brightest Italian, British, German and Georgian architects.

Georgia is a tourist destination where on the same day you can ski the Caucasus and swim in the Black Sea. The temperature in Batumi differs from that in Cannes by only 0.5 degrees. That means that summer lasts for almost 6 months—6 months of warm sea water and, I think, it is the only place on the Black Sea coast that has palm trees and such wonderful beaches.

But this is also a historic place of amazing development and amazing change within the last five years.  When I became the President of Georgia, Georgia hosted 120 thousand tourists a year.

Guess what? Last year, we had 2 million tourists, and this year we’ll get almost 3 million. Next year we expect to get—we’re looking forward to—4 million, and 5 million the following year. That’s the forecast.

Georgia has the potential of attracting 10 million people each year, and that’s a big change.

The reason why it’s so special is its ancient culture. The Golden Fleece comes from Georgia; Jason and the Argonauts traveled all the way to Georgia to retrieve it from the local Colchis civilization. We also have the distinction of having Christianity as early as the 4^th century AD. We have churches in Georgia that were built in the 4^th, 5^th, 6^th—lots of them. Everywhere you go in Georgia will find many UNESCO monuments. Additionally, there are an amazing 6 climatic zones in Georgia.

Throughout the country, young people are fluent in English because, as of right now, we’ve invited 10 thousand Americans and other native speakers to teach English in Georgia.

Georgia is host to many other languages and Batumi could be mistaken for any city in Europe. Its famous hospitality also helped Georgia act as the “Soviet Riviera” during Soviet times.

There are more Georgian restaurants in former Soviet countries than all other ethnic foods combined. This is the place to be.

So, we developed the city of Batumi and we developed the town of Anaklia, with its white sand beaches. It’s just like Nice and Cannes, because they are almost the same distance from each other.

Basically, Batumi is like urban Nice and Cannes is characterized by its boulevard similar to the slightly longer one in Anaklia.

We are now developing a new town called Lazika, with a new, grand design, to bolster our economic and touristic potential.  We are building it near the ski resort in Mestia, where you can actually ski all summer long. I took Alberto Tomba there—who, by the way, is planning to open a school in his name—in August to ski. Then we drove an hour and a half down from the mountains and dove into the Black Sea, which was very warm at that time.

Mestia has 4 hundred some towers dating from the 10^th and 11^th centuries. Actually, you could think of Georgia as the Dubai of the middle ages. So all I’m saying here is that Batumi has amazing potential for development and it means a lot that we are part of this Bigger Diamond Awards System.  I think it’s a good start for our city.

All of the time, energy, and money invested in recent construction have paid off.  We’re looking forward to seeing all of you back in my country: a undiscovered gem that most of you have not yet had the pleasure to experience.

If you like pioneering new travel destinations, discovering long-kept secrets, visiting a very, very special place, please come see and visit us, and you will return home with unforgettable experiences and lifelong memories.

Thank you!