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Rostourism sends a special envoy to Thailand

Rostourism's special envoy to Thailand sent to assist Russian citizens affected by tour operator's bankruptcy

BANGKOK, January 31 (Itar-Tass) — Rostourism's (Russian Federal Tourism Agency) special envoy arrived to Thailand on Monday. Grigory Sarishvili will travel to the resort town of Pattaya on Tuesday to help customers of the Lanta Tour Voyage company. According to the available information, the headquarters that will be set up at one of the local hotels will address the problems of the Russian citizens that were affected by the bankruptcy of the tour operator.

According to the Russian Embassy in Thailand, about 1.3 thousand customers of Lanta Tour Voyage are currently on holidays in the kingdom. Most of them live in hotels in Pattaya, others - on the island of Phuket. Several dozen tourists are in Bangkok.

The Russian Embassy’s staff members have been providing assistance to those affected by the bankruptcy of Lanta Tour Voyage in settling issues with the hotel administrations as well as problems associated with transportation to the airport, press secretary of the Russian diplomatic mission in the Kingdom of Thailand Vitaly Anopov told Itar-Tass.

Anopov said on Monday that in some hotels in Thailand, in particular those in Pattaya, hotel administrations took passports of the tour operator’s clients demanding payments for the hotel stay. Consulate officials are helping tourists to coordinate accommodation issues with administrations and search for hotel rooms at a lower cost for those who were expelled from their hotels. According to the Russian consulate, there are 1,500 Russian tourists who travelled to Thailand using Lanta Tour Voyage services.

Lanta Tour Voyage is one of the largest companies on the Russian market. On Friday the tour operator unexpectedly suspended its work. It operated for more than 12 years offering tours to such destinations as Thailand, Vietnam and India.

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