Russia will establish an official register of travel agencies based on the existing register of tour operators. This was announced by Zarina Doguzova, head of the Federal Agency for Tourism, on the Rossiya 24 television channel.
As the head of the department emphasized, the register will be for market participants completely free of charge. "It will be created by Rostourism based on the existing registry of tour operators. We are confident that such a registry will increase market transparency," said Ms. Doguzova.
At the same time, as ATOR Executive Director Maya Lomidze noted, the tourist season is currently proceeding relatively calmly, without any upheavals.
"The critical points we observed in previous years, the unpleasant incidents with company closures for consumers, have passed. The market is now relatively stable. This is likely because, for the first time in many years, supply and demand are extremely balanced," she said, noting that competition in the tourism market is growing every year, making it increasingly difficult for small and medium-sized companies to compete with larger players. Against this backdrop, Maya Lomidze forecast that the market will continue to expand over the next two years.
Another important announcement for the industry at the Dialogue was the expected introduction of subsidies for tour operators operating on domestic routes. "Until now, the state has subsidized the carriers themselves. We propose subsidizing tour operators directly for air travel, so that they can offer charter flights. State funds will be used to subsidize flights at a time when we see potential in the region, but it's underutilized," said Zarina Doguzova.
Source: trn-news.ru