Sitting in the empty dining room of the central Tbilisi hotel he owns, Shalva Alaverdashvili is one of those whose business is suffering under Georgia's ongoing political crisis, with the country's vital tourism industry feeling the impact. The 46-year-old's hotel has been right in the midst of the regular pro-EU protests that have gripped the city since disputed October elections and Alaverdashvili says the unrest has triggered a wave of cancellations that has cost hoteliers around "3.5 million euros" collectively.
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00:00We are in the airport.
00:03It's a beautiful day.
00:06We are going to the airport.
00:08It's very cold.
00:10It's time to take off.
00:12We are on the plane.
00:14We are going to the airport.
00:16We are on the plane.
00:18We are on the plane.
00:20Approximately 70% of the hotels are empty and we all, what we're counting is approximately
00:37we already lost more than 10 million laries.
00:41It's approximately about 3.5 million euros already been lost with the cancellation in
00:47the last two weeks.
00:49Government is responsible for everything.
00:52Government should calm the situation down.
00:55How they're going to do it, I don't know.
00:57How they will resolve this situation, I don't know.
01:01But what I see from my side, we definitely need the new elections to calm the situation
01:08down.
01:09If the government is strong enough now, as they say, we are the winning side, you don't
01:16have to be afraid of nothing.
01:18Just make a new election and you will win again.
01:44For you, as a business, it's devastating because we are close to parliament and the
01:54central government buildings and it's protected.
01:59So we are on the same street.
02:01So actually there is no possibility for our guests to come.
02:07I mean, if it was getting more unstable, then we would have postponed the trip or we might
02:19have changed the country.
02:22But I think everything is under control, I think.
02:25So we were a little bit scared, but it's okay, I think, right now.