he travel agents based in the Urals keep waiting for the compensation payments from Capital Tours; the payments are to be made for the tourists whose travel expenses were covered by the agents themselves.

According to the insurer Innogarant, the payments were supposed to have started in February 2011, but for the time being the company is just busy returning the applicants’ papers back for improvement.

‘Our application package was placed with Capital Tours as early as December 2010. Some of the papers have been given back to us because of some filling-in slips. What’s more, we still cannot get any information on whether the refund will be full or partial. It all looks very much like an attempt to put off paying,’ says Director of Zima-Leto Group Olga Gulyar.

The tour operator itself has not been declared bankrupt yet. Moscow Arbitration Court ruled on February 14, 2011 that the hearing of the case should be postponed due to the insufficiency of documents. The hearing has been set for March 9, 2011. Capital Tours now owes its creditors 1.59bn RUR.

‘Even if the company manages to cope with its problems and keeps on operating, it will have a hard time finding partners. The company’s founders undermined all the confidence they used to enjoy. I don’t think this company should stay on the market,’ Ms Gulyar said.