At the disposal of the editorial board TourDom.ru This week, a draft resolution was submitted following the results of the strategic session of the Russian Union of Travel Industry dedicated to the work of travel agencies, which took place on March 1. The text was sent to experts for approval and then sent to the regulator – the Ministry of Economic Development. On the one hand, the project reflects the ideas of the participants of this event about the ideal working conditions of the travel retail. On the other hand, the proposals are contradictory and do not look fully developed.
For example, in the 1st paragraph it is written: “Liberalization of tourist legislation and licensing regimes in terms of enabling travel agents to sell certain tourist services (transportation, accommodation, etc.) without obtaining the status of a tour operator.”
We have already written that this is extremely important for professionally working travel agencies. For a number of reasons, they are not always ready to trust their clients’ tour operators and, at their own risk, send them on trips, independently combining individual services.
Such activity falls under the definition of a tour operator and requires an entry in the register and registration of financial guarantees. It is very difficult to get them now and from the point of view of agencies it is not always necessary, since they are engaged in quasi-tour operators only sporadically and do not have the same risks as “big” tour operators. We need some kind of intermediate legal form that allows professionals to work according to the law without fear of fines.
The logic seems to be clear: the industry law was adopted back in 1996, it has long been outdated and does not take into account the current realities in which the travel business lives. However, further contradictions are revealed. We quote the 8th point: “Carrying out real control and supervisory measures and suppressing illegal activities of organizations and individuals engaged in travel agency activities without corresponding entry into the Unified Federal Register of Travel Agents (EFRTA) according to clause 7 of Article 14.51 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.”
In other words, travel agents insist on getting concessions for themselves in terms of simplified access to the functionality of tour operators, but at the same time they want the state to punish those who illegally engage in travel agency activities, that is, in fact, they commit similar violations.
The feeling of inconsistency is intensified when reading the 4th paragraph of the draft resolution: “Working out the issue of the possibility of legislating the minimum amount of agency remuneration for travel agents.” That is, the authors believe that the state should force tour operators to pay for the work of retail partners at a certain approved rate. That’s not all. We read the 13th paragraph:
Development of conditions for regulating direct sales of outbound tourism tour operators without violating the rights of travel agents.” Here we are talking about the fact that retail would like to prohibit tour operators from working with direct customers.
Even without the lawyer’s comments, it is obvious that such contradictory proposals – when one is allowed, and for some reason it is impossible for others – are unlikely to be considered seriously. In addition, any amendment to the industry law requires justification. And it is extremely difficult, if at all possible, to submit figures to the Ministry of Economic Development explaining what economic effect the state will receive if it fulfills all the “wishes” of travel agents. However, we are talking about the draft resolution – the final version can be adjusted.
Earlier, we wrote that work is underway to update the sectoral law, but lawmakers are not going to change the established system of financial guarantees.
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