Versa tour operator. Tour operator "Versa" has suspended travel abroad. Tourism industry reform

According to preliminary data from Rostourism, there are now about 9 thousand Versa tourists abroad, most of whom - about 2 thousand people each - are in Spain and Greece. About 900 people flew to Turkey.

The operator notified Rostourism that he expected to return half of the tourists home on his own - their vacation was fully paid for. We purchased Versa tours, but now about 6 thousand people will not be able to use them.

"Versa" was insured for 210 million rubles. in three insurance companies: VSK, Avangard Policy and Avesta.

A representative of the insurance company Avesta told RBC that the company has not yet received any documents from Versa, and is not taking any action until tomorrow morning. A representative of Avangard Policy told RBC that the company's management is preparing a commentary that will be made public tomorrow. A VSK representative said that Versa clients have already started contacting the company, but VSK is ready to talk about their number only tomorrow.

Over the past two months, more than a dozen Russian travel agencies have left the tourism market. The travel agencies “Neva”, “Labyrinth”, “Ideal-Tour”, “Southern Cross” and a number of others announced the suspension of their activities earlier due to financial insolvency. The new “victims” explained the suspension of their activities by a strong drop in demand amid a wave of bankruptcy of tour operators.

A message on the ATOR website notes that Versa became the tenth tour operator in St. Petersburg to leave the market this season. Participants in the St. Petersburg tourism industry saw in recent events a “planned action to destroy St. Petersburg tour operators” and even wrote a petition addressed to the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko and the head of the Federal Tourism Agency Oleg Safonov with a request to save Versa.

“The version about clearing the market exists, but I don’t believe in it. It’s just that in a growing market everyone knows how to make money, but in a falling market what happens is what happens. And “Versa” also became a victim of the situation,” Irina Tyurina, press secretary of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry (RST), told RBC. According to Tyurina, the situation on the market now is much worse than it was in the crisis year of 2009. At that time, the reasons for the fall in demand for travel services were only economic, but now people also refuse to travel for political reasons. According to preliminary estimates, travel agencies missed at least 4 million clients this year.

In early August, the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky faced a crisis in the Russian tourism industry and proposed raising the barrier to entry into this market. In particular, it was proposed to increase the contribution of companies to the “Tour Pomosch” compensation fund, which rescues clients of bankrupt travel agencies.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed to prepare a package of amendments to the law “On the Fundamentals of Tourism Activities in the Russian Federation” by October 1. “Their (tour operators - RBC) activities are opaque, and when we started digging into this area, we came across difficult feelings. Large companies worked on the principle financial pyramids“Medvedev noted at the meeting on September 3.

Maria Bondarenko, Sergey Sobolev, Vlad Gordeev, Daria Luganskaya

Bankruptcy travel companies in 2014

One of largest tour operators Petersburg", the company "Versa", existing since 1999, has suspended work in the field outbound tourism. 9 thousand Versa clients remain abroad.


Tour operator "Versa" is suspending work "in the field of international outbound tourism", the company will continue to deal with international inbound tourism and domestic tourism as usual - as stated on its website. The tour operator has already notified insurers of the situation; compensation for tourists will be paid to the companies VSK, Avangard Policy and Insurance Company Avesta. The total amount of Versa's financial guarantees is 210 million rubles.

The Tourist Assistance Association will be responsible for returning tourists who are currently abroad to their homeland. There are about 9 thousand Versa clients in Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Italy, the company’s marketing director Sergei Tonkov told ITAR-TASS.

Mr. Tonkov clarified that “the removal (of tourists) began a few days ago.” However, according to him, just today several people planning to visit Prague were taken off the flight at Pulkovo. According to an Interfax source, 43 passengers were not allowed on board the plane by airline employees after they had passed border control.

All return tickets for the coming week have been paid for, Rostourism press secretary Irina Shchegolkova told ITAR-TASS.

Vice-President of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry Yuri Barzykin - Kommersant FM:“Versa should be the last tour operator to go bankrupt, maybe the second to last. If they had stood their ground in their relationship with the air carrier before, they would have agreed to only return tourists, and only a round-trip ticket, I think there would have been much less damage. should be the last tour operator to go bankrupt, maybe the second to last. If they had stood their ground in their relationship with the air carrier before, they would have agreed to only return tourists, and only a round-trip ticket, I think there would have been much less damage.”

According to Sergei Tonkov, the suspension of Versa’s activities in the field of international outbound tourism is due to the “inability to fulfill obligations.” 6 thousand people bought tours from Versa for the coming months.

Maria Zholobova


What will happen to the Russian tourism market?


The state responded to the collapse tourism industry loud statements about restoring order and strengthening regulation. The procedure is expected to be very specific, since the crisis in the tourism industry was largely a consequence of the actions of the authorities themselves.

How foreign tourists faded into the background


In September, Rosstat adjusted the methodology for calculating key indicators of the tourism market, and now it turns out that in the first half of the year, inbound tourist flows into the country increased tenfold, and outbound tourists almost tripled. Meanwhile, tour operators have diametrically opposite data. Due to the political situation caused by military operations in neighboring Ukraine, the flow of foreign tourists from the EU and the USA has decreased by up to 60%. Russians began to vacation abroad three times less often.

The tourism business, like any other, is subject to many risks, and companies often close due to unprofitability. But when a small travel agency stops working, the consequences are not as impressive as when a large tour operator declares its insolvency. That is why, when the Versa travel agency suspended its activities, it caused serious unrest in the market.

About company

Versa LLC began operating in 1999. It was one of the largest tour operators in St. Petersburg and in the northwestern part of Russia. The tour operator offered the opportunity to relax anywhere in the world. Depending on the clients’ capabilities, he offered budget European Bus tours or group excursions. And also the employees could help organize a real dream vacation for discerning clients for whom price did not matter.

Before the Versa tour operator suspended its activities, it not only provided outbound tourism services of varying complexity for ordinary tourists, but also offered various programs for corporate tourism companies. In addition, the company was engaged in domestic tourism and acted as a host when organizing visits of official delegations to the cultural capital.

year 2014

2013 was almost a record year and few expected that 2014 would become a nightmare for many travel companies and citizens who had already purchased vouchers. The sudden crisis and sharp rise in currency prices took their toll, as a result, many small agencies and several large players were forced to leave the market.

Not only the tour operator Versa suspended its activities, and as a result, the vacation of more than 130 thousand people was ruined. Those who were able to fly away and found out about problems at the end of their vacation were luckier. Although difficulties with paying for a hotel and waiting for information about how and when you can return to your homeland can hardly be called luck. Some found out that they were not going anywhere, being at home and anticipating long-awaited trip. Moreover, it was possible to return the cost of the tour, but the procedure took time, the money was not returned immediately and not always in full. Therefore, the vacation was ruined in any case.

Care of "Versa"

The St. Petersburg tour operator Versa suspended operations on September 15, 2014, leaving about 9 thousand vacationers abroad and selling tours for the coming months to another 6 thousand people. According to the company, it decided to close only outbound tourism, but was ready to work on receiving guests, as well as develop the domestic direction. "Versa" has added to the list of numerous large companies from St. Petersburg, which declared their insolvency in 2014. Taking into account the fact that financial guarantees totaling 210 million rubles were provided by three insurance companies, for future fate The management of the company was not worried about the injured tourists.

Conflict with Tourist Assistance

After the tour operator "Versa" suspended its activities, it announced its virtual inability to transport its own tourists from their vacation spots. The company turned to Tourist Pomosch to use their funds to bring people back. The Tourist Assistance Fund is created using funds contributed by market participants involved in outbound tourism. Thus, if one company fails, the financial burden falls on the others. Versa's position outraged many, since the company closed only outbound tourism, leaving domestic tourism to generate income. At the same time, she did not intend to bear responsibility to her clients and decided to shift it to others. The company's management was given a condition to immediately cease all activities. To continue operating, the company had to independently deal with the problems of returning its clients from other countries. Then the tour operator Versa announced a complete suspension of activities. The company used its remaining funds to export people; the shortfall was compensated by Tourist Pomosch. According to the fund's estimates, 3 thousand tourists who had not paid for their return tickets needed real help.

As many analysts predicted, the St. Petersburg company became the last among those who left the tourism business in 2014. Taking into account the fact that the Versa tour operator suspended operations virtually at the end of the season, there was no need to expect imminent new shocks in this market.

Moscow. September 15th. website - St. Petersburg tour operator Versa is suspending activities in the field of international outbound tourism, but continues to work on domestic and international inbound tourism, Rostourism told Interfax on Monday.

“On September 15, the Versa tour operator announced the suspension of activities in the field of international outbound tourism. According to the tour operator, other types of activities - international inbound tourism and domestic tourism - are carried out as usual,” says a message on the Rostourism website.

The message notes that compensation for damage will be made by the insurance companies SOAO VSK St. Petersburg branch, ZAO IC Avangard Policy and ZAO Insurance Company Avesta.

“Insurance companies have been notified of the suspension of the activities of the Versa tour operator in the field of international outbound tourism,” the message says.

Also, travel agencies that have an agreement with a tour operator must notify their tourists about the suspension of the activities of the Versa tour operator and the inability to fulfill their obligations under agreements on the sale of tourism products in the field of international outbound tourism.

“The company guarantees that tourists and travel agencies will be provided with comprehensive assistance and support so that tourists can receive reimbursement of the cost of the tourism product as soon as possible from the financial support amounts,” the statement says.

It was previously reported that according to preliminary figures, there are about 9 thousand clients of the tour operator abroad. These are mainly Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Tunisia and other countries. All flights were paid for.

According to preliminary information, 6 thousand people bought tickets for the coming months. If it is necessary to evacuate tourists from abroad, Versa will do this on its own, and the financial guarantee should be sufficient.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) noted that the total amount of financial support for the company is 210 million rubles. “According to the data from the unified register of tour operators, at the end of 2013 the company’s turnover amounted to 1.75 billion rubles,” noted ATOR.

The multidisciplinary tour operator "Versa" has been operating on the market since 1999. The company was one of the leaders in receiving tourists in Northern capital, the operator was also active in the outbound tourism market.

The suspension of Versa's activities continued the series of bankruptcies that began in the summer in the Russian tourism market. Thus, the St. Petersburg tour operator "Firm Neva", the company "Wind Rose World", the tour operators "Expo-Tour", "Ideal-Tour", "Labyrinth", the group of companies "IntAer", the tour operator "Nordic Star" previously announced the impossibility of fulfilling their obligations. ", travel agency "Surgutkurort", tour operator "Wind of Wanderings", travel agency "Formula have a nice rest", tourist operator "Etude", Bryansk "Milana Tour", travel company "Atlas" and tour operator "Solveks-Tour", tour operator "Southern Cross" and travel agencies "Sea Sun" and "Sky Tour". According to facts of fraud in some Criminal cases were brought against these companies.

Tourism industry reform

In connection with the cessation of the activities of many tour operators and travel agencies, the government ordered, by October 1, to prepare interdepartmental legislation that would strengthen consumer protection in the tourism market in Russia.

So, about creating a register of travel agencies. According to the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky, those agencies that do not meet the requirements will not engage in entrepreneurial activities.

He also explained that the government abandoned plans for compulsory licensing, since it is not a 100 percent guarantee against bankruptcies of tour operators and only “creates a headache for the licensing authority” and preconditions for corruption.

At the same time, Medinsky noted that the authorities are considering several options for insurance in the field of tourism - from the introduction of compulsory insurance to strengthening the principles of imputed insurance, that is, insurance of travel companies themselves against the risk of bankruptcy.

 

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