A passenger plane in the sky. File photoMOSCOW, Feb. 28Amid Western sanctions, Russian tourists have stopped booking tours, but tour operators have hopes for the development of tourism in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, industry representatives told RIA Novosti.
"Booking tours to Egypt and Turkey have stopped, many are afraid of restrictive measures and are afraid to fly. Many cancellations —20-30%. It would be more if people did not understand that if they refuse, they will return the amount at the old exchange rate in rubles. And for others, this is a real opportunity to still relax", said Artur Muradyan, general director of the tour operator Space Travel.
«Now it's absolutely calm, because people need to rethink everything. Also now the off-season and sales for holidays with departures in the coming dates are at a stop. People are not buying anything. We hope that tourists will still start booking tours. Yes, we are closed west, but the south and Southeast Asia are open,” said Igor Blinov, director of development of travel agencies OnlineTur.ru. Muradyan agreed with him: “While the Middle East and Southeast Asia are open, the situation is not optimistic, but it is not critical But the volume of canceled tours and cancellations of planned trips to open countries will become clear in the coming days, but it is already clear that 50% of the outbound industry will stop despite open countries».
Aeroflot suspends flights on the network of European routes «Flights to China were allowed, the number of flights to Thailand was increased. Vietnam is not far off. Turkey, Egypt and North Africa are not announcing the closure. We hope that all of them will remain open and tour operators will send their attention to these regions. We hope that nothing more global will happen,” Blinov said. recently it was only Bulgaria, Hungary and Norway. «We simply did not have time to open sales to the Baltic countries and Italy, which were also closed, because everything was just beginning. As for Bulgaria, now we are sending the last tourists through Istanbul. All tours to this country will be canceled from Monday, will also be canceled and tours for the summer with a full refund,» the travel company clarified.ATOR warned of the possible cancellation of flights from Russia to the United StatesRussian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 signed decrees recognizing the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, which had declared independence from Kyiv back in 2014, and on February 24 Russia launched a military operation to demilitarize Ukraine. In an address to fellow citizens, Putin said that circumstances “require decisive and immediate action,” as the Donbass republics have asked for help. According to the Russian leader, the entire responsibility for the bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine. In response, Western countries have imposed another anti-Russian sanctions since 2014. Many EU countries announced the decision to close the airspace for Russian aircraft. The Russian Federation responded by restricting the use of its airspace to flights of aircraft associated with or registered with the UK, including transit flights, from 25 February. As the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said earlier, the Western sanctions are very serious, Russia was preparing for them in advance. He added that they require analysis and coordination of departments in order to develop response measures that are in the interests of the Russian Federation. /2022/02/877cf368dc179c2730b897c89d456271.jpg» />Nebenzya commented on the talks between Russia and Ukraine in BelarusPosted by: Nikita Stoma