The representatives of Adjara Tourism Department and Batumi Boulevard made a working visit to Wallonia, the region in the Kingdom of Belgium.

In the framework of the visit, they held official meetings with private and public officials, got acquainted with tourist places and infrastructure and determined a cooperation plan.

“For our region, of special interest is the experience that Wallonia has concerning village tourism and eco-tourism. We are also interested in the service provision and even management issues. It is important that the visit is organized and paid by the Belgian side that emphasizes their willingness for official cooperation. It was decided to issue a memorandum of cooperation between Wallonia and Adjara and to implement mutual projects. We met the Georges Simenon Fund’s director in Liege province who told us about Simenon’s unique photo-archive. It appeared that the fund owned the unique pictures of old Batumi and Boulevard took by the writer and first steps have been made to obtain and research these photos”, states Sulkhan Ghlonti, the head of the Adjara Tourism Department.

As he says, the hotel houses of Wallonia, its walking and cycling routes represent the best European model for Adjara tourism development in the certain sector. Tourism Department, with the support of Adjara Government, is going to implement different projects concerning the Belgian Nobelist – Georges Simenon, including establishing a photo-archive, holding a thematic exhibition and a conference as well as creating a tourist route connected with the writers who visited Batumi in different times. As a result of the agreement between Adjara and Wallonia, it was decided to sign an official memorandum of cooperation.