As you know, the state information system “Electronic Voucher” (EP) officially started working (on paper) on September 1, 2022. But then covid, then sanctions, and the government has so far postponed the entry into force of liability for non-transmission of data on sold tours to the EP.
On November 15, for tour operators (TO) selling tours abroad, the postponement of punishment for violations in the EP system is canceled. From this date, if they are caught in violations three times in a row within three months, they can be excluded from the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators.
According to market participants, the minimum cost of EP integration is 400 thousand rubles, and for small and medium-sized enterprises this is a significant amount. It is not difficult to predict countermeasures from small travel agencies, for example, the sale of tours in parts: a separate ticket, a separate hotel, which negates the main idea of introducing an EP – the withdrawal of the travel business from the gray zone.
For organized tourists, the purchase of such “broken” tours threatens to lose access to the financial guarantee system in case of bankruptcy of the seller. It sounds scary, but in fact, the system of financial guarantees in real cases does not guarantee even a 30% refund of the funds of the affected tourists, so there is little loss. Definitely, a very large group of tourists who do not want to share their expenses with the state will not come out of the twilight either (because the discrepancy between expenses and income, for example, among officials, will be visible).
In any case, even with the problems outlined above, the start of normal (with penalties) operation of the EP is a step forward to a civilized market.
Pogrom at the airport
The economic damage from the riots at Makhachkala airport is still being calculated, but, according to preliminary data from the TFR, “the damage amounts to hundreds of millions of rubles.” However, according to Sergei Bachurin, head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the North Caucasus Federal District, 201 citizens were detained by the police for violations of public order, 155 of them had administrative materials compiled, 38 of them were placed under administrative arrest for up to 10 days.
The tourism industry, in turn, did not record mass refusals from tours to Dagestan for the November holidays – only single cancellations were noted among one and a half thousand tourists. According to experts, this reaction was influenced by the availability of non-refundable flight tickets for tourists (money was definitely lost) and a short period for making a decision, because it is problematic to find something decent to replace so quickly.
The Ministry of Tourism of the republic stated that Dagestan hotels accept guests of all nationalities. Of course, this was a response to the incident in Khasavyurt on October 28, when several hundred people gathered at the Flamingo Hotel to seek the eviction of Israeli Jews allegedly housed there. The answer is so-so, since some media outlets conducted an experiment and broke through the possibility of settling tourists with Russian passports but Jewish surnames in hotels in Dagestan. And the results of the experiment were not as unambiguous as the Ministry of Tourism of the region assures.
The Queen of the Fields
Last week, the West Siberian Directorate of the Federal Air Transport Agency completed an investigation into the landing of a Ural Airlines plane in a field in the Novosibirsk region. According to the agency, the crew made several erroneous decisions. They could have landed the plane at Omsk airport, and also failed to correctly calculate the remaining fuel.
But just a few days later, the Federal Air Transport Agency withdrew its report. The official wording is “due to newly discovered circumstances.” A new commission will review the incident.
Aeroflot got – 3
The situation continues to develop with Aeroflot passengers who bought super-cheap (8-15 thousand rubles) tickets on the Yekaterinburg – Phuket route (due to a technical malfunction on the airline’s website). According to a representative of one law firm, a collective claim has been filed (50 people, more than 300 more on the way) against the national carrier due to the cancellation of cheap tickets.
The victims ask to be given the opportunity to book flights from Yekaterinburg to Phuket and back with an open date or to pay the difference between the price of cancelled tickets and the cost of tickets on the day of filing the claim.
Promising does not mean getting married
A week ago, the head of the Tourism Development Authority of the Republic (SLTDA) Priantha Fernando promised that visas to Sri Lanka would soon officially become free. The program of free visas for 7 countries, recently approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, will enter into force only after the Department of Immigration and Emigration publishes an official statement. Most likely, on November 7,” the official said. However, the Department of Immigration and Emigration has not yet published a corresponding bulletin, so travelers will still have to pay $ 60 when entering the island state.
The Velvet Season
According to the results of the analysis of roaming of anonymized data of subscribers of a large Russian mobile operator, from September 1 to October 15, 2023, the number of trips abroad increased by 6% compared to the same period in 2022. Turkey, Abkhazia and Egypt are still the most popular holiday destinations. In addition, Russian travelers are 28% more likely to travel to the United Arab Emirates and Armenia. But interest in beach holidays in the Maldives decreased by 42%.
November holidays
According to a pre-holiday survey by one of the travel planning services, the majority of customers (36%) expected to go to the country or out of town for the November holidays. 24% of Russians were going to go on a “little trip” around their city: they would come up with a cultural program, explore new locations, go to a museum and entertainment places. 14% were going to go to study one of the regions of Russia, and 9% decided to go for a walk to the sea in one of the country’s resort towns for the November holidays. 8% of Russians went to sea abroad, and 4% went to study a foreign city. Only 3% of the respondents planned a trip to domestic mountain resorts for the November holidays and only 2% – to the mountains abroad.
According to real bookings from one of the travel services, the most popular air destinations for Russians for the November holidays are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kaliningrad and Mineralnye Vody. Among the popular railway destinations are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don and Yekaterinburg.
New Year
According to the actual bookings of one of the travel services, the most flights from Moscow during the New Year holidays (January 1-8, 2024) are scheduled to Kaliningrad, Sochi, Mineralnye Vody, Irkutsk and Murmansk. They travel by train from the capital to St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod.
Organized tourism, according to the relevant organization – the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, has Kuban, Kavminvody and St. Petersburg as the leaders in sales of New Year’s tours around the country. Moscow is in fourth place, and Veliky Ustyug is in fifth. The top ten sales also include tours to ski resorts (mainly in the Sochi mountain cluster), Karelia, the Moscow region (country hotels), Kazan and Tyumen.
Prices for New Year’s tours in Russia this year are higher than last year’s by an average of 6-14%. Kavminvod sanatoriums have risen in price the least, and resorts of the Sochi mountain cluster have risen the most.
You can’t make it up on purpose
There are two news items, both from Kuban. Firstly, the Adler District Court recognized the legal fact of the existence of the historical name “Khorota River”, which is currently listed as “Herota” in the state catalog of geographical names. Therefore, it was decided to return the name “Khorota”.
Secondly, at the Chebotarev hotel in Sochi, they offer to check in for half the price to the owners of the surname, which is included in the name. The promotion seems to be open-ended, but whether at least one tourist managed to use it is not known for certain.
Invitation to partnership – t.me/snn1964
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Источник: argumenti.ru
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