‘The introduction of greater insurance claims will result in only three tour operators able to work on the Russian market,’ Director of Schastliviy Sluchai Tour Operator Regina Klimova said to UrBC.

In the meantime, a number of insurance companies feel the current scale of tour operators’ financial security guaranteed by the existing legislation is not enough to make up for the consequences of their possible bankruptcies. These insurers say the back-up sum has to be more impressive.

‘If one wants to be a travel agent and sell trips abroad, one will have to take out a 100,000-ruble insurance policy in order to have the financial guarantees worth 10 million RUR. This is definitely not too much for the large market players, whereas it’s quite a substantial financial burden for a local-scale tour operator without a billion-ruble turnover,’ Regina Klimova explained.