Travel agencies refused to return money to frightened Russians who rented out tours en masse

Schoolchildren are in the midst of spring break, but many parents are canceling planned and already paid excursions – both to the capital and to other crowded places. This gave rise to a round of conflicts between parents and travel agencies.

Those responsible for the trips cannot return the money collected in advance for vacation excursions, since they have already handed it over to travel agencies. And they say that they have already used the funds, and there is no turning back, since there have been no official recommendations “for minors not to go on excursions” from anywhere.

“If there were orders, at least at the level of local authorities, to limit the travel of schoolchildren in the region, this would be a basis for us to demand money back from service providers that we paid for,” explains Marina, manager of a travel agency that organized a trip to Moscow for schoolchildren from the Moscow region Mozhaisk. – We have already paid for lunch in a cafe for 30 people, bought tickets to museums, we cannot return all this. And those who are afraid to travel should understand that any fear you have is for your money.

In words, travel agencies assure that they understand and share the concerns of mothers and fathers, but in this case, their empathy, as they say, is not monetized.

“My 8th grade class and I have to go to Moscow next Saturday,” shares Inna Evgenievna, a class teacher from the Moscow region. – We donated money for the trip back in February, 19 people donated, and today 11 of them refuse to go. They say my parents don’t allow it. Of course, I can’t discuss this with a child; I invite the parents to talk. I say that everything is calm in Moscow, there are no official restrictions. Of course, you may not go, but you will lose money. But in the parent’s chat they’re blaming each other so much that it’s creepy to read. I don’t know what to do yet.

Some of Inna Evgenievna’s local colleagues have already figured out how to get out of the situation. School administrations exercised their right to issue an internal order and issued a circular at the director level that students of their institution “are not recommended to travel to (listing specific places) in connection with ensuring the safety of minors.” With this paper, those responsible for vacation trips went to travel agencies demanding that the deposited funds be returned to them, but they received only their share of indignation.

“If this happens in a region that has introduced official restrictions on the departure of children’s groups on pre-planned tours, then there is no problem,” says Alena, a travel agent for children’s holidays. – And if there are not even recommendations at the departmental level, and the school director himself wrote something there, this is complete nonsense! So any school in the middle of a clear sky will issue you some kind of ban! Children from regions where the authorities have not introduced restrictions, who paid for trips to the same regions, refuse them at their own expense. And all misunderstandings are resolved through the courts.

Today, many representatives of the tourism industry associated with children’s recreation complain that organized groups of schoolchildren represented by a responsible representative or individual parents demand a refund, “referring to oral recommendations not to attend public events if possible.”

“This is such a polite wording,” explains a children’s holiday tour operator, whose group trips to Moscow for schoolchildren from the Moscow region are being cancelled, one after another. – But in fact, “oral recommendations” are horror stories that mommies pump each other up in chats.

Some not so careful parents complain that they are being pressured by more “child-loving” ones:

“Our class is going to Moscow for the weekend,” says Zoya, the mother of a sixth-grader from Ryazan. “I didn’t try to cancel the trip, but other parents from the class insisted that I “join the majority.” They all went to the director in a crowd to demand the money back on the grounds that their children were “endangered.” And those parents who did not want to go were shouted that they were enemies to their children. And, of course, everyone went. But the money was still not returned, since no security threat was declared in Moscow and the Moscow region.

According to the children’s tourism industry, official travel restrictions were issued only in the Orenburg region and Chuvashia; children’s groups from there canceled vacation tours legally, that is, demanding that the deposited funds be returned to them based on the order of the local Ministry of Education. All other Russian educational institutions were given only verbal recommendations from above about increased vigilance. That is, whether to cancel the trip or not remains at the discretion of the parents. But it turns out, at their own expense.

“The return of funds depends not only on us,” they explain in the capital’s travel agency, “but also on the service providers to whom we have already transferred the money.” And this means transport – in the case of children, most often trains and buses. Hotels where rooms have already been booked for large groups, and cancellation occurs at the last minute. Well, then tickets to museums, concerts, hot lunches and so on. We cannot pay for their fears from our own pockets.