Touroperators see cancellations of planned trips to Russia

Foreign tourists cancel their trips to Russia after the terrorist act in Domodedovo. The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, that immediately recommended British citizens to refrain from flying to Moscow airport does not inspire confidence in the Russian incoming touroperators. Australians are also being asked to be extremely careful when planning trips to Russia.

But also our incoming travel agencies receive the compassion and support messages from their colleagues from all over the world. “Tari tour” Executive Director Marina Sidorova told RATA-news about numerous calls and messages from foreign partners that sent their deep regret consolations in view of the bombing in Domodedovo. “They sympathize with us and denounce the terrorists. I would like to underline specifically that none of our partners gave up on cooperation with us”, explained Mrs. Sidorova.

Immediately after the tragedy “Reisebuero Welt” started receiving letters with the words of support and comfort, not only from partners, but also from clients. «Please accept my sincere expression of grief and anger with regard to the horrible tragedy in Domodedovo. Taking away innocent lives is so wrong!», – Don Walter from Seattle wrote. «Russia, we love you!», – came from Italy. And the following message came from Slovakia: «We deeply regret what happened in Domodedovo. We are with you!».

There are cancellations of trips to Russia of course but our experts think those are not on a large-scale. «We were expecting two big tourist groups at the beginning of February, but unfortunately one is already cancelled», - Marina Sidorova says. But they still hope that the winter season will go on, because there are no cancellations for later dates. «We kept the schedule of our familiarization trips, summer programs are actively booked», – added Mrs. Sidorova.

«We have a few cancellations, - confirmed “Reisebuero Welt” executive director Larisa Zazulina. – But we also have confirmations of groups arrivals, for example, Japanese tourists only asked to postpone the trip a bit».

Larisa Zazulina thinks that you need to constantly keep in touch with partners and clients and try to explain to them that right now, when Russian security services work in robust security regime and all public places are specifically controlled and superintended the trip to our country would be less perilous than ever.

The World Tourism Organization in its address expressed hope that “tragic incident won’t stop those who planned visiting  Russia and tourism segment of the country will continue positive development despite these difficult times.”