“It’s important to get clear rules of the game” – Kommersant

The chairman of the expert council of the State Duma Committee on Tourism told Kommersant about approaches to regulating the online travel market. Christopher Konstantinidi.

— Previously, there were proposals to introduce the concept of “tourist aggregator” into legislation. Even a bill has been prepared to this effect. At what stage is this initiative now?

— The bill, which should affect the activities of tourism aggregators, was developed at the site of the expert council on the initiative of the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Tourism and Tourism Industry Development Nikolai Valuev and has already undergone several discussions and revisions. This included discussions of the initiative with such major industry players as MTS Travel, Yandex Travel and Tutu, representatives of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Digital Development. The concept of the bill is generally supported by all interested parties. Discussions with deputies are now ahead.

The main questions were in defining the concept of a tourism aggregator, establishing the differences between an aggregator and a tour operator, and the responsibility of services for the sale of services. You shouldn’t equate aggregators with tour operators, but you also shouldn’t consider such services simply third-party distributors of information. By selling services for booking hotels, airline tickets, and excursions, aggregators receive a commission, which means that such services should be considered as agents in the broad sense of the word.

— That is, the introduction of separate regulation of this market has already been recognized as appropriate?

— All parties agree that aggregators should be held accountable for the services provided and information published on the sites; we will continue to discuss the details. Everyone understands the importance of this issue, given the growing number of consumer claims related to the activities of aggregators and litigation. The services themselves also understand the urgency of the problem, for which it is important to obtain clear rules of the game. This will allow them to clearly know where the boundaries of their responsibility lie, and where the responsibility of hoteliers, airlines, and excursion organizers lies.

— Businesses in Russia traditionally resist any tightening of regulation, warning of negative consequences for the industry and consumers. There were no such disputes here?

— When we just started discussing separate regulation of this segment of the industry, representatives of travel aggregators tried to assure us that such services simply provide information. But we were able to convincingly prove to companies that this is an erroneous interpretation and, as I said, we are more likely talking about some kind of analogy of agency activity.

Today, each aggregator has its own methods of checking counterparties, verifying information, already integrated into business processes, and experience in using such mechanisms. And we suggested that aggregators summarize these practices and make them, among other things, the basis of industry regulation. This will allow the business to avoid additional burdensome burden.

— Marketplaces that have many disputes with counterparties are trying to promote self-regulation as a way to solve problems. Could this be a working model for travel aggregators?

“The main thing for us is to guarantee tourists a high-quality, affordable and safe tourism product, to fix the rules for the operation of aggregators and to be sure that market participants will not go beyond the limits. With self-regulation, companies can adhere to the same operating principles today, but we have no guarantees that these same rules of the game will be followed by services in the future.

— When do you expect the bill on tourism aggregators to be considered in the State Duma and adopted?

— For now, we predict that the draft law will be sent to the Ministry of Economy in its finalized form and launched for consideration in the State Duma next year.

Interview conducted by Anatoly Kostyrev