Facing the loss of as many as 1 million Russian tourists this year

Facing the loss of as many as 1 million Russian tourists this year, Georgian tour operators and allies – including former President Poroshenko – are campaigning: #SpendSummerInGeorgia. Irakli Sakhamberidze, general director of Travel In European Union travel agency, tells Al Jazeera he wants the Georgian government to win direct flights from the US and cheap flights from Israel, and to fast-track the entrance of Irish budget airline Ryanair. He says: “If we eradicate these problems, we can substitute the 1.4 million Russian tourists very easily.” In Kyiv, Aleksandr Alba, owner of the discount airline SkyUp, tells the UBN that next spring he plans to double flights from Kyiv Boryspil to Batumi, to twice a day, and to increase Kyiv-Tbilisi flights, to daily. He says: “Georgia is our main foreign destination.”