Stories are important in marketing. Bad stories may cost a brand a fortune. With good stories, it can win a big time. For years, Georgia aspired to become a winner brand in the global tourism market.
Today we have two stories and yes, they have already caught an international eye.
First: BBC, Aljazeera, IPI, and many more covered TV Pirveli’s cameraman Aleksandre (Lekso) Lashkarava who was savagely assaulted during the anti-LGBTQ-rally with his face bones broken to little pieces and an eye that had to be put under a surgeon’s knife. Days after, Lekso’s mother found him dead in his bed. The way the police treated his deceased body is whole another story that only his colleagues – other cameramen could depict -since putting this picture into words is almost impossible.
Second: Independent, VOA, Eurasianet, and many more covered how a Polish tourist was also stabbed by the same homophobic mob with eyewitnesses reportedly saying his attackers believed he was gay. Fortunately, he is getting well and unlike Lesko Lashkarava, a cameraman working for the critical media in Georgia, at least the Minister of Economy visited him in the hospital, assuring this incident was ‘an isolated case’ and did not reflect the country’s attitude towards the tourists.
Both these cases show how violence by hate groups has gripped Tbilisi these days and how the state was not able to defend both its citizens and its guests. Still, there are very clear question marks about why there was not enough police presence.
At the same time, this is not only a political issue but economic as well. Immediately, after the first news hit international media, most bookings at Georgia’s hotels have vanished. Posts after posts succeeded each other on Facebook – managers of hotels showing screenshots of canceled bookings. And all this after the lockdown has finally been mostly lifted and the interest of tourists to visit Georgia was slowly rebounding, adding to the economic recovery that has gradually started to pick up – tourism and service industry representing the biggest share in the GDP.
But the negative impact of this violence goes further than just the tourism industry. Would you invest a penny in the country that shows instability beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, loading another layer of the heavy burden of uncertainty it has already brought to the world? Would you study in Georgia knowing that violent groups are after foreigners? Would you work from Georgia knowing that the streets are not safe? Would you support Georgia knowing it’s sliding off the democratic path of respecting free speech and different points of view, neglecting human rights, and calling minorities an impediment to the majority rule?
This is how we – the beaten journalists of Georgia – see the picture today.
And this is what we do not want!
We want stories that make this county win a ticket to the Euro-Atlantic Integration!
This is what we call winning a big time!
