Russians and Tajiks changed plans for the May holidays after the terrorist attack

After the tragedy of March 22, many Russians changed their minds about going on trips for the May holidays: they are returning their purchased tickets for trains, planes and long-distance buses. And for some fellow citizens, the fateful Friday evening changed their plans not only for vacation in early May, but also for life in general.

Immediately after the tragedy in the capital, leading Russian air and railway carriers announced that they would refund the full cost of all those wishing to return tickets with departure and departure from and to the capital in the next 3-5 days. Some passenger companies stipulated specific travel dates that can be canceled without deduction of commission fees, but some indicated that in the period until March 26-27 they will return the entire amount without penalties for any returned tickets, including those purchased at non-refundable fares.

Their employees were the first to notice that some Russians changed their minds about visiting the capital for the May holidays, while others did not want to leave it. Some segments of the tourism industry have been hit so hard by the tragedy that their workers are reconsidering their plans for work and life.

“We sold out thematic bus tours in Moscow and the Moscow region for May by mid-March,” shares Svetlana, a representative of a Moscow travel agency that takes guests of the capital and region on “literary trails.” – We have educational routes for families with children, the client is mainly family and from afar – Siberia, southern Russia, the Far East. After Friday, 98% abandoned the purchased tours. We are a small, intimate company; we cannot bear such a blow. And to keep the fines in such a situation below the plinth, people are afraid to go to Moscow and drive around the Moscow region, and they can be understood. We refused the remaining 2% ourselves, returning all the money. Personally, I decided to leave tourism altogether.

– Well, now we shouldn’t show Moscow to guests?!

– Of course, everything will work out over time, someone will show it, but not me. I remember that a year ago, at about this time, I took a group from Kamchatka to this very hall for a concert, so I think that this is a sign to me. When you not only went yourself, but also led someone who trusted you, it’s a doubly nightmare. I am a historian by training, I will go to work in the archive, with pieces of paper, not with people.

In addition to those who do not want to go to the capital of our homeland, as a result of the fateful Friday, many have changed their minds and left it. The reason is the same – fear.

“I wanted to fly home to Tajikistan for May,” shares Gulzoda, a labor migrant working in a private house in the Moscow region. “But now I’ve handed over the tickets.” I’m afraid. And to fly, and how they will react to me with a Tajik passport. And how my mother will cry and beg me not to return to Moscow. I don’t leave the house at all now, the owner allows it, so my work is still all around the house. My fellow countrymen are now simply being detained in stores, everyone’s documents are being checked. I’m fine, but I’m still afraid of patrols.

Native Muscovites are also abandoning planned holidays for the May holidays, travel agents who sell tours to near and far abroad talk about this.

“We have returns for May tours to Egypt, Abkhazia and Uzbekistan,” notes the capital’s travel agent Denis. – Although we cannot return the full price for May, the money is already in use. But Muscovites do not want transport, especially air: there are delays at airports, increased checks, and traffic jams at the entrances. We say that by May everything will resolve, but now many are under such a depressing impression that they add “never again in life” to everything. We won’t go to a public event, we won’t fly on an airplane, and so on. To be fair, there are also refusals for train-based tours, but less. This will pass, of course. I think that we will again sell the tours they rented out for May as last minute.

“On Monday, my friend and I returned train tickets to St. Petersburg for the end of April, the money was returned, despite the postponed date, but this is only possible if returned before March 26,” shares Muscovite Anastasia. – We have planned excursions and a concert in St. Petersburg. But after what happened, I don’t want to go to crowded places at all.

There are also those who, in light of what happened, are urgently leaving Moscow. These are mainly foreigners.

“Our diplomats were going to the Golden Ring in May,” shares a Russian employee of the Moscow embassy of one of the Asian countries. “But now they’ve changed their minds and are flying home; they’ve already taken their tickets.” They were scared that on that Friday they all received a newsletter about discounts for that concert, last-minute tickets for only 3,500 rubles. Miraculously, they didn’t go and now they have, as they say, an aftershock. And none of our words that this did not come to them personally, but to everyone who subscribes to the news of the cultural life of Moscow, do not help: the most suspicious ones are sure that they were lured into a trap.