23:06, 12 August 2019

Georgia estimates damage from Russia's air ban at 60 million US dollars

Batumi street. Photo by Nina Tumanova for the Caucasian Knot

In July, the Georgia's tourism businesses lost up to 60 million US dollars because of the ban on direct flights to Russia, reported Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 8, the Russian President's ban on direct passenger flights to Georgia entered into force. Flights of the Georgian airlines to Russia are also banned.

According to TBC Research, in July, the number of Russian tourists travelling to Georgia decreased by 21.4% in comparison with 2018, and of them, almost 80% of travelers refused to fly by airplanes.

The Georgian government has developed two programmes to support small and medium tourism businesses, reports Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze. According to him, that may be enough for companies to quickly cope with the problems that have arisen, and the measures already taken will return to the tourism sector its growing dynamics in the medium term, the RIA "Novosti" reports today.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 12, 2019 at 06:28 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.