The possible increase of the financial guarantee sum up to 150 million RUR will probably make the tour operators more careful when scheduling their flight offers, since few operators can afford to pay the sum in case some problems pop up. A portion of irresponsible companies will definitely have to quit the market,’ Director of Tez Tour’s Ural branch Igor Avdokushin said to an UrBC reporter.

Russian Federation State Duma deputy Vladislav Reznik proposed a draft that would provide for the increase in the amount of financial security the tour operators would have to guarantee their customers from 10 million RUR to 150 million RUR ‘in order to effectively protect the Russian travelers’ rights and interests.’ The deputy claims the state of the tourist market in 2008 does call for the increase.

‘There are some smaller tour operators who offer nice quality service to their customers, and they need some special treatment. Perhaps the larger tour operators should have greater financial guarantees, while the smaller ones need smaller amounts. On the other hand, the scale of the guarantee should not depend on the operators’ turnovers, as companies will be tempted to cover up the real scale of their activity,’ Igor Avdokushin observed.