Agencies outraged by the situation with the Pearl River have published a petition on the Change.org portal, calling on the country's leadership to reimburse the affected tourists for their cancelled trips, as well as to "introduce legislative changes to the procedure" "Inclusion in the register of tour operators depending on planned turnover." The appeal is addressed to the Ministry of Economic Development and the Presidential Administration of Russia.
As the authors of the petition, published on behalf of "Travel Agents of Russia," note, for several years, the legislative regulation of tour operator activity has proven ineffective. "The provision for inclusion in the register of tour operators makes it relatively easy to get on it, and yet Rostourism has no oversight over tour operator activities. Agents who sell tour packages primarily rely on this register, but they are unable to evaluate the tour operator's operational performance and are unable to insure each tour package separately against tour operator bankruptcy and insolvency. The existing tour operator insurance, which allows for inclusion in the register of tour operators, has proven ineffective. Since June 13, 2018 alone, which is not yet complete, 13 tour operators have been excluded, and large travel companies that had been in business for over 20 years have gone bankrupt. "And the figures for just one of them are already giving cause for concern: the loss of Panorama Tour LLC from the market amounted to over 1 billion rubles, with 100 million rubles in liability insurance, and there are also stories with Rostour and Polar Tour, which are still ongoing," the petition states.
It also notes that market consumers received only 4% in payments from the cost of tour packages.
"A similar scenario is currently unfolding in the market with a tour operator operating under the brand name 'Pearl River.' The operator began selling tour packages in 2017, but then flights began being cancelled and postponed, and refunds for cancelled vacations were either not issued or were delayed. In May 2018, a flight program from Moscow began, and in August, from cities in Siberia. The program operated steadily for several months. More than 40,000 tourists vacationed and were satisfied. Travel agents, relying on the register and available flights, began making sales.
However, Rostourism's lack of oversight, given the volume of flights from more than 11 Russian cities (approximately 3,500 people vacationing at any one time per week), once again led to a dire situation. Rostourism removed this tour operator from the register by Order No. 502-PR-18 dated December 12, 2018, thereby leaving tourists and their travel agent representatives alone with an insolvent tour operator, whose bankruptcy damages would be disproportionate to the insurance coverage. "The depth of tour package sales continued until March," the travel agencies emphasize.
Against this backdrop, retail representatives put forward two demands:
Amend the procedure for inclusion in the register of tour operators at the legislative level, depending on the planned turnover, and also oblige Rostourism to monitor the activities of tour operators.
accept responsibility for the current situation and resolve the issue of reimbursement of funds for purchased and cancelled tours to clients of TRAVEL DESIGNERS LLC and HERCULES TRAVEL LLC (Pearl River)
However, it's not entirely clear what specific changes retail representatives would like to make to the industry law, nor who exactly should reimburse money for cancelled Pearl River tours.
Source: trn-news.ru