MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Russia’s partial suspension of flights to the EU due to the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to a wave of bankruptcies among Russian tour operators, Irina Tyurina, a spokesperson for the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST), told TASS on Friday.
"Tours to all destinations are being annulled. Hundreds of sea cruises are being cancelled every day. Tourism is at a standstill," she said, noting that the Russian law dictates that tour operators must return the money to their clients, while hotels and air carriers fail to return the money to tour operators. "This will be a massive drop. The situation may be worse than the wave of tour operators leaving the Russian market in 2014," Tyurina said in response to the question on how Russia’s partial ban on flights to and from the EU will affect the tourism industry.
"The situation cannot get any more critical," she said, adding that both domestic and international tourism is losing sales, as regional officials are recommending companies to suspend trips of organized groups of children even within Russia.
"This concerns everyone - both large and small tour operators. Some will survive, some won’t, but the situation is catastrophic. We are writing to all official bodies asking to introduce the concept of force majeure in the industry’s legislation. So far, the law stipulates that tour operators must return the money in full or minus the actual costs incurred. They are obligated to do so, while plane companies are not, hotels are not," Tyurina said.
Russia’s partial travel ban
Starting March 16, Russia will partly suspend regular air service with all EU states excluding flights between Moscow and EU capitals. Flights to Switzerland and Norway, except the ones to Geneva and Oslo, have also been suspended, Russia’s task force for combating and preventing the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) told reporters on Friday.
Charter flights to these states will still be operated to transport citizens of the EU, Switzerland and Norway back to their home countries and to transport Russian citizens to the Russian Federation.
Earlier, Russia partly suspended air service with China, South Korea and Iran.
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. On March 11, WHO officially characterized the situation with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic. The disease has spread to over 110 countries. According to official data, over 134,000 people have been infected with the virus globally, and over 5,000 have died.