On February 1st, the Facebook page “Cardhu” published a post regarding the Georgian journalist Giorgi Gabunia, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Russian citizens to help foster national tourism and spend their holidays in the occupied Crimea. The page further noted that after Giorgi Gabunia cursed Putin in public, the Russian president used this as an excuse to cancel Russian flights to Georgia, causing significant economic damage to Georgia.
The claim that Vladimir Putin cancelled Russia-Georgia flights because of Giorgi Gabunia’s statement is false. In fact, Putin made this decision after the controversial visit of Russian MP Gavrilov to Georgia, which was two weeks before Gabunia’s speech. Despite the ban on flights between Russia and Georgia, in 2019, the income from international travel to Georgia still increased.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an order to suspend direct flights from Russia to Georgia on June 21st, 2019. The order would enter into force on July 8th, 2019. Putin made the decision after the visit of Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov sparked a mass protest, forcing him to leave the country prematurely. With the cessation of direct flights, Putin instructed the government to return Russian citizens temporarily staying in Georgia to Russia, while travel companies no longer issued tourist trips to Georgia.
As for Giorgi Gabunia, he cursed the Russian President in Russian on July 7th, 2019 on Rustavi 2. At that time, more than 2 weeks had passed since the decision to ban direct flights from Russia to Georgia.
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Despite the ban on flights between Russia and Georgia, in 2019, the income from international travel to Georgia increased
According to the data of the National Tourism Administration, revenues from international travel in January-November 2019 amounted to USD 3,051,424,548, which was USD 35 million more than that of the same period last year. In addition, 5 million out of 9.3 million international trips were made for tourism purposes, which is 6.8% more than in the previous year.
In addition, according to the 2019 report of the National Tourism Administration, Russian citizens spent much less in Georgia compared to European, American and Asian citizens. US citizens had the highest average spending per visit (GEL 3,813). The average expenditure of Russian citizens was GEL 1,282.
“Myth Detector” has fact-checked the disinformation about Russia’s role in Georgian tourism in the past as well. See:
- How much do Russian tourists spend in Georgia?
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