The "Electronic Travel Voucher" information system is now fully ready for launch; it only requires the adoption of a number of regulatory acts, said Oleg Safonov, head of the Federal Agency for Tourism, according to Interfax.
"At present, the Electronic "The voucher" is fully prepared for commercial launch. This requires the adoption of a number of regulatory acts. Some of these documents have already been approved by orders of the Russian Ministry of Culture and submitted by the agency to the Russian Ministry of Justice for state registration; others—draft resolutions of the Russian government—have been submitted to the Russian government," reported O. Safonov in an interview published on Tuesday in Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
He also recalled that on December 1, 2017, by order of the Federal Agency for Tourism, the "Electronic Travel Voucher" service was put into permanent operation, at which time the agency provided full access to the information system for market participants.
In response to the publication's question about who would benefit from the "Electronic Travel Voucher," O. Safonov clarified that "the service is primarily needed by consumers, that is, tourists."
"This is an additional guarantee that tour operators will fulfill their obligations to them. The 'Electronic Travel Voucher' will also allow us to obtain accurate information about the number of our citizens vacationing in other countries, the length of their stay, departure dates, and the hotels they are staying in. This is crucial for assisting tourists in emergency situations, such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and travel company bankruptcies," the head of Rostourism emphasized.
"Furthermore, the Electronic Travel Voucher will contribute to the increased efficiency of the tourist charter transportation system, as it will allow aviation authorities to correlate the volume of commitments made by airlines with their actual transportation capacity," added O. Safonov.
He also said that the "Electronic Travel Voucher" will become "a fundamentally new mechanism for monitoring tourism product sales, a tool for increasing the transparency of the tourism services market in Russia."
"It's no secret that many travel agencies are used for illegal transactions involving the illegal transfer of funds abroad, the shadow sale of cash, and the like. This has been noted, in particular, by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and other authorities authorized to oversee financial markets. The new information system will help combat financial fraud in the tourism sector," noted O. Safonov.
Source: trn-news.ru