I don’t think any financial guarantees can save a tour operator on the brink of bankruptcy. For one, these guarantees did not help much in the case of Capital Tour and its customers. As a result, people were forced to pay for the hotel rooms themselves, they found themselves hostages of the problem. The thing is, Capital Tour still owes money to hotels and airlines. This is why I really do not see how a financial guarantee can save either the tour operator or the client,’ Director of OOO Inna Tour Inna Averyanova told UrBC.

Meanwhile, the prospective changes in the tourist legislation will make it obligatory for tour operators whose annual turnover falls short of 500m RUR to ensure financial guarantees of 100m; companies whose turnover comes to more than 500m RUR a year and over 1bn RUR a year will have to provide 200m RUR and 200m RUR plus 5% off every next 100m RUR worth of financial guarantees, respectively.

The authorities decided to raise the financial guarantees requirements even though they have a vague idea of how much things cost. Tour operators use millions of borrowed dollars. They can barely pay off these loans. Once their tax payments have gone up, the burden has grown even heavier, as they have plenty of personnel,’ Ms Averyanova added.

Today’s big problem is the recklessness of the tourists themselves. They often don’t care what travel agent to come to as long as the trip is inexpensive. However, a traveler should always think of why this trip is cheaper and whether he or she will be able to get his or her money back in case the agent goes bust. After all, the biggest discounts are offered by one-time businesses,’ she explained.