26 tour operators will receive subsidies totaling 2.1 billion rubles to reimburse the costs of taking Russian tourists from abroad.
Currently, the Federal Treasury makes technical payments to the settlement accounts of tour operators. As part of the subsidy, tour operators will be able to compensate for part of the costs for organizing charters, re-purchasing tickets for regular flights, and accommodating tourists while waiting in conditions where an independent return was impossible or very difficult. This is stated on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development.
“It is gratifying that one of the important issues for the industry has been resolved so quickly after the transfer of authority to manage tourism to the Ministry of Economic Development – the repayment of obligations to tour operators for the return of tourists in March of this of the year. We hope that other issues relevant to the market will also be resolved constructively and quickly,”, said Maya Lomidze, Executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.
At the end of February 2022, a number of foreign countries closed their airspace for Russian aircraft, which led to the cancellation of a number of flights between Russia and foreign countries. Tour operators, from whom they purchased vouchers, were engaged in the export of organized tourists.