Several high-profile scandals caused by delays in the departure of Kazakh tourists on holiday to Turkey, which occurred over the past month, forced the country's authorities to think about serious measures against unscrupulous tour operators.
Thus, in his recent interview, Deputy Head of the Civil Aviation Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan Talgat Lastayev stated that the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kazakhstan is ready to put forward an initiative to the government on a legislative ban on the sale of travel packages to tour operators who do not have official agreements with the air carrier at the time of sale with permission to fly in foreign airspace.
Talgat Lastayev emphasized that this is a forced measure caused by the latest outrageous cases when Kazakh tourists waited for several days for their flight to Turkey. The deputy head of the KGA said that tour operators use open blackmail in their unscrupulous business when they force the authorities to urgently issue flight permits to airlines, backing up their arguments not with properly executed documentation, but with angry tourists waiting for their flight.
According to Lastaev, if amendments to the law are adopted, such cases will not be repeated. Selling tours only by tour operators who have "iron" agreements with air carriers and all the necessary documents and permits will help avoid a repeat of delays in charter flights.
