SEATTLE — Rick Steves, who has a travel show and has written guidebooks, has built a business that, in pre-COVID times, was taking 30,000 travelers to Europe each year, according to the Rick Steves’ Europe website.
Just as tour operators are seeing business begin to bounce back, Steves is taking a stand and saying no trips to Russia this year.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Steves posted on social media, "when we bring travelers to another country, we also bring their dollars -- dollars that would support Putin's aggression. Therefore, as of today, we have cancelled all 2022 tours that include a stop in Russia."
"We did not really expect that things would be taken this far to an actual invasion of the country,” said Douglas Grimes, a Seattle-based tour operator.
Grimes is the founder of MIR Corporation.
"MIR means actually peace and world, and we started by doing citizen exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union,” he said.
Grimes, who has a passion for volleyball, met the Soviet Olympic team at exhibition game in Seattle and later became instrumental in organizing goodwill games in what was the U.S.S.R. That led Grimes to what he's been doing for more than three decades -- operating tours to places he loves, like Russia and Ukraine.
"The hardest part is we have colleagues there and friends,” said Grimes.
For safety reasons, Grimes has cancelled group programs to Russia for the near future and posted about the situation on the company's website.
He anxiously watching the turmoil and tragedy from afar.
"We are just kind of praying for some peaceful solution,” said Grimes.