ERV, which insures the civil liability of RossTour legal entities engaged in tour operator activities, has clarified the payment procedure for tourists whose vacations were cancelled. However, according to the Russian Tourism Union, not everyone will be eligible for compensation. “It is possible that the vast majority of tours sold are products of other tour operators, and they are not insured,” said the press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry.
As a reminder, a little earlier, RossTour CEO Alexander Nedopolz told Interfax that the company intends to cease its tour operator activities and continue to operate as a network of travel agencies.
"We haven't yet analyzed the statement by the head of RossTour about plans to cease tour operator operations. We do have a contract that provides for compensation payments to tourists totaling 150 million rubles in the event of RossTour's termination. The company hasn't yet insured itself. This requires a public announcement of the suspension of operations, along with an order from Rostourism. Only then will tourists who purchased RossTour tour products be able to receive payments," Yulia Alcheeva, Executive Director of ERV Insurance, explained in an interview with the agency. She emphasized that the contracts with the company only cover tour operator operations.
In turn, Irina Tyurina, press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, emphasized that tourists who unknowingly purchased packages from other tour operators through RossTour will not be eligible for insurance payments.
"Compensation payments for cancelled tours will only apply to the actual tour operator product, that is, RossTour itself. It's possible that the vast majority of tours sold were from other tour operators and are not insured," Tyurina explained, according to RIA Novosti. She also emphasized that the insurance company will carefully review each compensation package to determine whether the tour was a RossTour product or another tour operator's.
However, according to lawyers, determining which tour product RossTour actually created will be quite difficult. However, as Georgy Mokhov, head of the Persona Grata law firm, emphasizes, if RossTour did sell third-party products but listed itself as the tour operator in the contract, compensation will be sought from the booking center itself.
«Tourists see only the formal information in the contract and are not obligated to understand the entire chain of legal relations. However, the insurer then has the right to file claims for compensation against Rostour itself. The law provides for a right of recourse: if damage was caused by the intentional misconduct of the policyholder, this allows for a recourse claim against the tour operator's directors and founders. Furthermore, the law contains a separate article on insurance fraud. But all of this still needs to be proven.“,” he explained to a Travel Russian News correspondent.
Source: trn-news.ru