#12
Asia Times
December 11, 2001
Moscow move could freeze holiday hopes
By Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW - Thousands of Russian travelers have booked or purchased package tours in hopes of escaping local frost for warmer climes in Thailand or Bali over the New Year's holiday period. Moreover, many Russians remain undeterred by the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States and still feel comfortable to travel abroad. However, their hopes of a dream vacation may well fail to materialize.
Russian aviation regulators have moved to forestall a repeat of a situation that saw hundreds of Russian tourists stuck in Bali, Thailand or Egypt with no charter flights back to Moscow. The State Civil Aviation Service ordered all Russian airlines to renew their charter licenses immediately or face losing them during the December 15-January 31 holiday season. The regulators insist the measure is needed to prevent scams like the one that happened last New Year's when a charter carrier failed to come up with planes and hundreds of passengers were stuck in Moscow airports and/or exotic Asian destinations.
The travel agencies backed the move but lashed out at the timing. Tourist agencies find themselves in a difficult position, as they have sold most of their New Year's packages. They argue that the aviation regulators could have warned them a couple of months ago rather than two weeks before the peak season. It remains to be seen whether and how passengers will be notified if their flights were canceled.
The State Civil Aviation Service insisted the crackdown was intended to protect passengers' rights during this holiday season. The service said that in order to operate charter flights, airlines must prove by December 10 that they have proper international charter licenses and provide a list containing their routes, dates of flights, flight numbers, and availability of backup aircraft. Airlines also must provide documentation showing that their aircraft are equipped with air collision avoidance systems on routes where they are required.
The requirements were designed to forestall "a repetition of the situation with international charter flights in 2000," the service said. The situation referred to occurred when the Rusavia airline sold seats on nine charter flights although it did not have a single aircraft for those flights. As a result, more than 1,000 passengers were stranded at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport for nearly two days. In Thailand and Bali, hundreds of tourists were stuck until the Russian government stepped in and flew them home. Although Rusavia lost its license, this was poor consolation for the unfortunate tourists.
In the wake of the much-publicized scandal, aviation authorities promised to crack down on small airlines, or "babyflots", that operate only during peak seasons and don't own any aircraft. So far this year, the regulators have suspended the licenses of some 30 Russian airlines, although more than 200 small airlines are still in business.
Major airlines say they will have no problems meeting the new requirements. Aeroflot will comply with all the new criteria, the company said in a statement. Nonetheless, fears remain that there could be disruptions over the New Year that may hit Russia's outbound tourist sector.
The number of Russian holiday makers going to Southeast Asia may drop because of the sudden regulatory changes, said Alexander Muratov, head of Aquarius Express tourist agency. Aquarius has been selling package tours to resorts in Hainan, the Philippines and Phuket with a couple of days in Hong Kong.
In the aftermath of the Soviet collapse in 1991, millions of Russians began traveling abroad. A decade ago there were only three state-owned companies engaged in international tourism in Russia; some 10,000 private firms are now in business, and many offer tours to Southeast Asia.
However, tax evasion is rampant and cash transactions amount to at least 70 percent of the overall turnover of the Russian tourist companies, according to official estimates. Most of the private tourist companies are small and fraud is widespread, peaking during the Christmas-New Year season, according to the Russian League to Protect Travelers' Rights.
Nonetheless, according to the World Tourist Organization, by 2020 Russia may join the world's top 10 tourist destinations, with some 40 million international arrivals per annum. Experts also say that Russia still faces imbalance between inbound and outbound tourism. Some 10 million Russian tourists travel overseas every year, while the country recorded only about 2 million international tourist arrivals, according to the Russian Association of Tourist Agencies.
Russia's cultural and historical destinations may turn the travel sector into top foreign-exchange earner, but experts warn that the country's tourist industry could turn out to be unable to sustain inbound tourism. The Russian government has approved a federal program designed to support the country's tourist industry and promised annual subsidies amounting to some US$30 million, yet the sector has received only a fraction of the monies so far.
Unfortunately, Russia's tourist market remains largely disorganized, said Yelena Drapeko, deputy head of the Culture and Tourism Committee of the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian parliament. As a result, Russia now needs a national tourist authority to clear up the mess, she said.
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