Debts of tour operators for failed trips fell below 1 billion rubles

The amount of debt of tour operators for tours that were canceled during the pandemic and after February 24 is gradually decreasing and has already fallen below the mark of 1 billion rubles. About this in a conversation with Interfax stated Executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) Maya Lomidze.

According to Lomidze, the association records a positive trend in reducing the debt of tour operators to tourists: about 60% of the amount was repaid in the first three months of 2023. “Now, according to our extrapolated data, the debt is less than 1 billion rubles. And we believe that this is a good result for one quarter. In the context of the entire tourism market, this is a rather insignificant amount,” she said.

According to Lomidze, tour operators aim to fully repay the debt to customers for canceled tours. Moreover, she continued, the summer season will soon begin, which accounts for the bulk of the earnings of tour operators. According to her, taking into account this factor and in the absence of new crisis situations, the debt will be repaid by the end of 2023.

Earlier it became known that the Ministry of Finance, in pursuance of the instructions of the President, prepared a bill exempting tour operators from VAT on domestic and inbound tourism.

On August 22, 2022, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved a plan to implement the Strategy for the Development of Tourism in Russia until 2035. It includes 65 state support measures for the industry, including financing the development of tourism clusters in the regions, concessional lending to investment projects to create tourism infrastructure, business grants for the construction and reconstruction of hotels, as well as support for the development of rural and ecological tourism.