Page 41 - GEORptJul19

9.1.4 Tourism sector news
Russia bans tourism in Georgia “to protect own nationals”
Economics of Russia’s ban on tourism in Georgia
Responding to recent developments in Tbilisi in which Russian lawmakers were asked to terminate their visit and leave the country amid big anti-Russian protests, which on June 24 entered a fourth night, Russian President Vladimir Putin convened an emergency session of the Russian Security Council t o announce a temporary ban on flights to and from Georgia starting July 8, “to protect Russian citizens from violence or other illegal actions.”
But Russia’s move might actually prompt a wave of support for Georgia as a tourism destination. A twitter campaign #WorldWelcometoGeorgia is already online and over 18,000 Russian citizens signed within a couple of hours an online petition calling on Putin to cancel his recent ban on flights between Russia and Georgia. Lithuania has become one of the first countries to join a new campaign supporting Georgia’s tourism industry by calling on more of their citizens to visit the country. Tourists from former USSR countries like Ukraine are likely to replace Russian tourists, ironically exactly because of the Russian language legacy.
The Russian Transport Ministry later announced that flights of Georgian airlines to Russia will also be suspended from July 8. It invoked debts worth under $1mn dating from 2008. But the move is more likely a response to Air Georgia offering flights to Russian tourists, who are rather unlikely to renounce their holiday plans. The move will also only strengthen the sentiment that the Russian authorities are doing their best to prevent Russian tourists that remain interested in spending their holiday in Georgia from following through with plans - such individuals are important for an industry that depends so much on image.
The text of Putin’s decree, the ministry’s ban on Georgian airlines using Russian airports and statements from Russian Federation Council Security Committee member Frants Klintsevich (referring to a tourism embargo and not citizens’ security) indicate it is actually a ban on tourism to Georgia more than an action to protect Russian citizens’ security.
Under the decree signed by President Putin, Russian airlines are temporarily prohibited from carrying out air transportation of citizens from the Russian Federation to the territory of Georgia. Tour operators and travel agents are recommended for the duration of the ban to refrain from selling to citizens tourist products that provide for the transportation (including commercial) of citizens from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of Georgia. The decree also orders measures to ensure the return to the Russian Federation of citizens of the Russian Federation temporarily staying on the territory of Georgia.
"I do not exclude that the continuation of anti-Russian hysteria in Georgia requires us to take additional response measures that go beyond a tourism embargo," Klintsevich said i n a facebook post.
Russians account for some 20% of foreign tourists who arrive in Georgia (1.2mn visitors, 1.4mn visits) and tourism brings important revenues to Georgia ($3.2bn in 2018 as part of GDP of $16bn) that offset an important part of the net import of goods. But concluding that tourism revenues make such a big GDP contribution is not entirely justified. Over 50% of visitors arriving in Georgia state that they are visiting to meet friends and relatives, while less than 10% declare tourism as the entire scope of visit - therefore the distribution by nationality of this minority of tourists can be very different from the overall distribution. Then, as Klintsevich comments in its post, Russian
41 GEORGIA Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com