Wednesday, July 3 2019 13:10

ArmInfo.After the ban of President Vladimir Putin on flights to Georgia, travel companies of the Chelyabinsk region stopped offering vouchers to this country. South  Ural tourists reoriented to rest in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

According to the newspaper "MK-Ural", last year, residents of Russia  were in third place in the number of tourists visiting Georgia. Among  the residents of the Chelyabinsk region, the demand for trips to this  country has steadily increased over the last three years.

But on July 8, the ban on flights between Georgia and Russia comes  into force today, despite the former hospitality, which was not  affected by political events, and Chelyabinsk citizens who want to  relax in Georgia have become less. "We don't sell tours to Georgia  now, clients don't ask about them. Most of them shifted to Turkey.  Demand for Azerbaijan and Armenia increased. This is an obvious and  adequate replacement for Georgia. Rich history, color, national  cuisine - everything is there," tells the specialist of the <Sputnik>  company Daria Yerokhova.

Earlier, ArmInfo reported that the Russian Ministry of Transport  announced the suspension of flights of Georgian airlines to Russia  from July 8. Tour operators and agencies were recommended to refrain  from selling vouchers to Georgia. Tour operators offer alternative  directions, or return the entire amount spent.  From July 8, you can  get to Georgia by plane only by connecting flights - for example, via  Istanbul, Baku, Yerevan or Minsk. It is reported that Russian  carriers may lose up to $ 60 million.

At present, Armenia Airlines is the only Armenian airline operating  passenger flights from Armenia to Russia. It intends to start flights  Yerevan-Tbilisi, providing the route Moscow-Yerevan-Tbilisi. The  airline also applied for permission to operate flights to St.  Petersburg.

On June 28, Shalva Alaverdashvili, head of the Association of Hotels  and Restaurants of Georgia, told ArmInfo on the margins of the  Armenian-Georgian business forum that in 2019, Georgia, about 1  million more tourists from Russia was expecting from July. According  to him, if with the help of Armenia, at least 100 thousand of them  still arrive in Georgia, the losses of the country's tourism sector  will not be so significant.

 In order not to lose Russian tourists, the Association of Hotels and  Restaurants of Georgia has previously offered an alternative way to  bring Russians to rest - the launch of free bus routes from the  airports of Baku, Yerevan and Turkish Trabzon. As Alaverdashvili  pointed out, there is already a preliminary agreement with some tour  operators and hotels in Armenia so that they receive Russian tourists  for a day or two, accommodate at very low rates and only then they  are delivered to Georgia. One of the hotels in Yerevan has already  given its consent.

According to Alaverdashvili, Georgian tour operators will try not to  increase the price of the tour package, if they organize a shuttle  from Yerevan to Tbilisi, and if tourists from Russia are traveling to  Georgia in an Armenian hotel, Alaverdashvili said. Another question  is how they will succeed if we consider the increase in prices for  Moscow-Yerevan flights, which has already become traditional for the  holiday season.