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Yet another Russian tourism agency suspends operations

The company continues to offer tours to Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Peru
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, April 6 (Itar-Tass) —— Yet another Russian tourism agency suspended operations on Thursday ruining holidays for an unspecified number of tourists.

The International Travel Club (ITC) suspended the departure of tourists because of financial problems, Executive Director of the Russian Association of Tour Operators Maya Lomidze told Tass on Thursday.

“The travel company currently faces financial problems. The departure of tourists will be suspended in the coming days,” she said but played down potential consequences adding “there is no catastrophe.”

ITC, which has been operating since 1995, said nothing about the problems on its website. The company continues to offer tours to Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Peru.

Late last year another Russian travel company, Lanta Tour Voyage, which operated on the Russian market for 12 years ruined the holidays of over 3,500 Russian tourists and announced bankruptcy. The situation was most complicated in Thailand where over a thousand people got stuck. Another thousand people who booked tours with Lanta were unable to go on long-scheduled holidays.

In the meantime, spokesman of the Russian Tourism Agency (Rostourism) Oleg Moseev said on Thursday 136 million rubles will be invested this year into advertising domestic resorts among Russians. The money will go to produce TV commercials and advertise on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Rostourism plans to increase the flow of tourists in Russia 40 percent by 2018. In 2011 the number of Russians who preferred to holiday in the country upped 10-12 percent against 2010. The inflow of foreign tourists grew eight percent.