Aimar Ventsel: Georgia's Paradoxes – Tourists and Locals Live in Different Worlds
In Batumi, Russian tourists and emigrants are everywhere, but locals are quietly tired of them. While Tbilisi sees daily protests, Batumi's youth watch Russian talk shows, highlighting Georgia's contradictions.
According to Aimar Ventsel's observations, Georgia is a good example of how tourists and tourism live in one world while the daily life of locals exists in another. He is currently in Batumi, where the beach is full of Russian tourists and many Russians who have moved to Georgia are visible (e.g., cars with Georgian plates). At the same time, many Georgians are quietly fed up with Russians. For instance, stores often serve customers only in Georgian, but those who want Russian money serve in Russian.
Batumi shows several paradoxes. While international communication in Tbilisi increasingly takes place in English, Batumi has traditionally been a Russian-speaking city where even many Georgians speak Russian as their first language. Many service workers speak Russian against their will because they don't know enough English to switch.
Ventsel walked through the city listening to an English-language podcast about Georgian politics. It discussed MPs getting into fistfights and the EU being declared as much an enemy as Russia. However, the EU accession agenda has not been officially removed from the table.
A new development: a year ago, store clerks did not ask what card he was paying with. Now Russians are using their Mir cards, and the payment system must be adapted. Yet the tourist season is at its peak, and money needs to be earned. Three years ago Russian tourists were unwelcome as chronic cheapskates, but now they are back to throwing money around.
Alongside Russian money, European money is also welcome. An acquaintance works in the mountains for a German construction company building roads. The EU has visibly invested in Adjara near the Turkish border: small hotels often have signs saying construction was supported by EU funds.
The contrast between Batumi and Tbilisi is most visible in terms of politicization. While daily protest marches continue in Tbilisi, the young staff at the hipster hotel where Ventsel is staying watch Russian talk shows on their phones. Georgia increasingly reminds him of Kazakhstan: Russia's cultural and information presence is massive – Russian goods, pop music, and concert posters for both opposition and pro-government Russian artists are everywhere.
Around his accommodation are several cafés run by Russian emigrants, and new Russian places are appearing. The same is said to be happening in Tbilisi: new Russian bars push out alternative venues. Gentrification in Georgia is largely Russian-language.
The other side of gentrification in Batumi is Turkish- and Arabic-language. Tourism from Iran is at its peak, and people from the Middle East and Turkey are reportedly buying property in Batumi, which is expanding rapidly toward the Turkish border.
Another interesting paradox: while the podcast talked about corruption scandals in Georgia's ruling elite, the taxi driver who brought Ventsel from the airport – a Georgian who grew up in Turkmenistan – praised Georgia as a country with practically no corruption. This says more about Turkmenistan than about Georgia.
