Hurricane Sandy severely spoiled vacations on the US east coast
and made the Russians change their plans. Most tour operators report that their
customers tend to reschedule their itineraries; just the very few cancel the
bookings. First of all we mean tours that were supposed to start on October
30-31 - the very days when air travel to this part of America was
interrupted. The overall number of cancelled flights draws near 15 thousand.
Russian carriers were forced to stay grounded as well. For one, Aeroflot had to
call off its services to New York
on October 29 and 30. Another flight to NYC, scheduled for October 31, was
canceled too. The airline's official statement read that the passengers can
change travel dates for free or get a full refund for their tickets.
Tour operators don't
see the situation as a critical one, as hurricanes are not that rare in the USA. According
to the Executive Director of American Travel Company Ms. Elena Gubaryova, all
the tourists who had to break off their vacation because of Sandy were accommodated in hotels at no
charge. "We have two people on the Bahamas
and two - in New York.
There have been no complaints from them whatsoever" - she pointed out. She
also mentioned a cancellation of one tour departing on October 31. "I
think the refund for this aborted trip will be 100%" - deems RATA-news'
source.
Tour operator
KMP-Group reports they currently have 15 tourists in New York City, they have all been lodged at
hotels at the tour operator’s expense” – said the destination manager Mr. Ilya
Kotin. He also added that the next group is scheduled to depart on November 3.
And there have been no alarm calls from them.
Solo-Tour Company has
a group of 14 schoolchildren in New
York City. On Tuesday they were to depart for a filed
trip to Washington DC, which was cancelled due to severe
weather conditions and transport problems. All of them are now staying in a
hotel in a safe part of the city.
The head of the USA department of Russian Express Company Mr.
Andrey Prischepov told about two of their customers who were caught by the
storm in NYC but managed to get to Boston.
“But even if they would have remained in the city, there would be hardly any
threat to them. Most Russian tourists prefer to stay in Manhattan,
which was not affected by Sandy”
– Mr. Prischepov pointed out. He added that there have been no major
cancellations of USA-bound tours. “Two tourists are now thinking of postponing their
trip. But the rest still want to go” – said the tour operator’s spokesperson.
Usually a hurricane
flattens in a couple of days, which means we can resume our itineraries in the
nearest future” – hopes the Head of Agency 001 Mrs. Daryana Boyarintseva. So
the tours scheduled to depart on October 31 were postponed for exactly 24 hours
– to November 1. The sightseeing program was changed accordingly.
The manager for the
USA of Astravel Company reports that six of their customers refused to wait
till the storm is over and cancelled their bookings. “Unfortunately we are unlikely
to avoid cancellation fees in this case. The issue will be looked into by our American
partners” – the expert explained.