Maya Lomidze, Executive Director of ATOR (Association of Tour Operators of Russia), announced at a press conference on Tuesday, December 1, that sales of travel packages to Turkey and Egypt had been completely halted.
"Right now, no tour operators are selling tours to Turkey or selling tours with flights to Egypt.", Lomidze stated. Meanwhile, the head of ATOR noted that tour operators are violating recommendations of Rostourism and the presidential decree regarding the sale of tourism products in Egyptian and Turkish directions This does not lead to direct criminal liability. However, if any unpleasant incident occurs with Russian tourists in the aforementioned countries, the tour operators who sold the packages will face severe penalties.
«The tour operator will face extremely serious liability, including criminal prosecution. No one will risk themselves or tourists in this situation." — says M. Lomidze.
As for the financial losses that tour operators will suffer (and are already suffering) due to the ban on the sale of tours to Turkey, the head of ATOR believes that they will be significantly less than in the Egyptian direction, due to seasonal factors. However, the estimated damage amounts to hundreds of millions of rubles, but, as Lomidze stated, "exactly up to a billion."
