Versa travel agency. Versa tour operator has suspended trips abroad
According to the preliminary data of the Federal Tourism Agency, about 9 thousand tourists of "Versa" are currently abroad, most of them - about 2 thousand people each - in Spain and Greece. About 900 people flew to Turkey.
The operator notified Rosturizm that it expects to return home half of the tourists on its own - their vacation was fully paid. We bought 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.
The representative of the insurance company "Avesta" told RBC that so far the company has not received any documents from "Versa", and will not take any action until tomorrow morning. A representative of Avangard Police told RBC that the company's management is preparing a comment that will be made public tomorrow. The VSK representative said that Versa's clients have already started to contact the company, but VSK are ready to talk about their number only tomorrow.
Over the past two months, more than a dozen Russian travel agencies have left the tourist 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. New "victims" explained the suspension of their activities by a strong drop in demand amid a wave of bankruptcy of tour operators.
In a message on the ATOR website, it is noted that Versa has become the tenth tour operator in St. Petersburg to leave the market this season. Participants of the St. Petersburg tourist business in the recent events saw "a planned action to destroy the St. Petersburg tour operators" and even wrote a petition addressed to the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko and the head of Rostourism Oleg Safonov with a request to save Versa.
“There is a version about clearing the market, but I don't believe in it. It's just that in a growing market, everyone knows how to make money, and in a falling market, what happens. And "Versa" also became a victim of the situation, "- said RBC press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST) Irina Tyurina. According to Tyurina, the situation on the market is much worse than it was in the crisis year of 2009. Then the reasons for the fall in demand for travel services were only economic, and now people refuse to go also for political reasons. According to preliminary estimates, travel agencies have lost at least 4 million customers this year.
In early August, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky crisis of the Russian tourism industry and proposed to raise the barrier to entry into this market. In particular, it was proposed to increase the contribution of companies to the compensation fund "Tourpomosch", which helps clients of ruined travel agencies.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed to prepare a package of amendments to the law "On the Basics of Tourist Activities in the Russian Federation" by October 1. “Their (tour operators. - RBC) activity is not transparent, and when we started digging this area, we came up with hard feelings. Large companies worked on the principle of financial pyramids, ”Medvedev said at the September 3 meeting.
Maria Bondarenko, Sergey Sobolev, Vlad Gordeev, Daria Luganskaya
Bankruptcy travel companies in 2014
One of the largest tour operators in St. Petersburg ", the company" Versa ", which has existed since 1999, has suspended work in the field of outbound tourism. 9 thousand of Versa's clients remain abroad.
Tour operator "Versa" suspends work "in the field of international outbound tourism", the company will continue to deal with international inbound tourism and domestic tourism as usual, according to its website. The tour operator has already notified the insurers about the situation, compensation for tourists will be paid by 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 deal with the return home of tourists who are now abroad. In Spain, Greece, Turkey, Italy there are about 9 thousand clients of "Versa", said the director of the company for marketing Sergey Tonkov ITAR-TASS.
Mr. Tonkov specified that "the export (of tourists) began a few days ago." However, according to him, only today in Pulkovo several people were removed from the flight, planning to visit Prague. According to an Interfax source, 43 passengers were not allowed on board the aircraft by the airline staff after they had passed the border control.
All return tickets for the next week have been paid for, said the press secretary of the Federal Tourism Agency Irina Shchegolkova of ITAR-TASS.
Vice-President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Yuri Barzykin - Kommersant FM:“Versa should be the last tour operator to go bankrupt, maybe the penultimate one. If they had managed to survive in relations with the air carrier before, they would have agreed that only the return of tourists and only a round-trip ticket, I think, would have been much less damaging. should be the last tour operator to go bankrupt, maybe the penultimate one. If they had survived in relations with the air carrier before, they would have agreed that only the return of tourists, and only a round-trip ticket, I think, 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 be the Russian tourist market
The government reacted to the collapse of the tourism industry with loud statements about cleaning up order and tightening regulation. The order 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 the key indicators of the tourism market, and now it turns out that in the first half of the year, the incoming tourist flow into the country increased tenfold, and the outgoing one almost threefold. Meanwhile, tour operators have diametrically opposite data. Due to the political situation caused by the hostilities in neighboring Ukraine, the flow of foreign tourists from the EU and the US has decreased to 60%. Russians began to vacation abroad three times less often.
The travel business, like any other, is subject to many risks, and companies often close down due to unprofitability. But when a small travel agency stops working, the consequences are not so impressive than when a large tour operator announces its insolvency. That is why when the Versa travel agency suspended its activities, it caused serious unrest in the market.
About company
Versa LLC started working in 1999. She 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 capabilities of clients, he offered budget European Bus tours or group excursions. And also the staff could help organize a real dream vacation for discerning clients for whom the price did not matter.
Before the tour operator "Versa" suspended its activities, it not only provided outbound tourism services of varying complexity for ordinary tourists, but also offered various programs for corporate travel companies. In addition, the company was engaged in domestic tourism and acted as a host in organizing visits of official delegations to the cultural capital.
year 2014
2013 became almost a record year. And few people expected that 2014 would be a nightmare for many travel companies and citizens who have already purchased vouchers. A sudden crisis and a sharp rise in currency prices did their job, 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, more than 130 thousand people were spoiled for vacation. More fortunate for those who were able to fly away and found out about the problems at the end of the vacation. Although the difficulties with paying for the hotel and waiting for information on how and when you can return to your homeland can hardly be called luck. Some, however, learned that they were not going anywhere, being at home and anticipating a 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. So the vacation was ruined anyway.
Leaving "Versa"
The St. Petersburg tour operator "Versa" suspended its work on September 15, 2014, leaving about 9 thousand tourists abroad and selling tours for another 6 thousand people in the coming months. According to the company, it decided to close only outbound tourism, but was ready to work on receiving guests, as well as develop a domestic direction. Versa 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, the management of the company was not worried about the fate of the injured tourists.
Conflict with "Turpomosch"
After the tour operator "Versa" suspended its activities, he announced his actual inability to take his own tourists from their places of rest. The company turned to Turpomoshi to return people back at their expense. The "Tourist Assistance" Fund is created at the expense of funds contributed by market participants involved in outbound tourism. Thus, if one of the companies fails, the financial burden falls on the others. Versa's position angered many, as the company closed only outbound tourism, leaving domestic tourism to generate income. At the same time, she was not going to bear responsibility to her clients and decided to shift it to others. The company's management was given a condition on the immediate termination of all activities. To continue working, the company had to independently deal with the problems of returning its customers from other countries. Then the tour operator "Versa" announced a complete suspension of activities. The company directed its remaining finances to the removal of people, the lack was compensated by "Turpomosch". According to the fund's estimates, real help was needed for 3,000 tourists who did not have their return tickets paid.
As predicted by many analysts, the St. Petersburg company was the last among those who left the tourism business in 2014. Taking into account the fact that the tour operator "Versa" practically suspended its activity at the end of the season, there was no need to expect new shocks in this market soon.
Moscow. September 15th. site - Petersburg tour operator "Versa" suspends activities in the field of international outbound tourism, but continues to work on domestic and international inbound tourism, Interfax was told on Monday in Rosturizm.
"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 activities - international inbound tourism and domestic tourism - are carried out as usual," the statement on the Rostourism website says.
The report notes that compensation for damage will be made by insurance companies OJSC VSK St. Petersburg branch, CJSC IC Avangard Policy and CJSC Insurance Company Avesta.
"Insurance companies have been notified of the suspension of the Versa tour operator in the field of international outbound tourism," the statement said.
Also, travel agencies that have an agreement with a tour operator must notify their tourists about the suspension of the Versa tour operator and the inability to fulfill their obligations under agreements on the sale of a tourist product 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 a refund of the cost of a tourist product as soon as possible through the amounts of financial security," the statement said.
Earlier it was reported that according to preliminary figures, there are about 9 thousand clients of the tour operator abroad. Basically, these are Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Tunisia and other countries. All flights were paid.
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 it on its own, while the financial guarantee should be enough.
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 of the unified register of tour operators, at the end of 2013, the company's turnover amounted to 1.75 billion rubles," - noted in ATOR.
Versa, a multi-profile tour operator, has been operating on the market since 1999. The company was one of the leaders in receiving tourists in the 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 on the Russian tourist market. Thus, the St. Petersburg tour operator "Firma Neva", the company "Rose of Winds Mir", the tour operators "Expo-Tour", "Ideal-Tour", "Labyrinth", the group of companies "IntAer", the tour operator "Nordic Star" ", travel agency" Surgutkurort ", tour operator" Wind of wanderings ", travel agency" Formula have a nice rest", tour operator" Etude ", Bryansk" Milan Tour ", travel company" Atlas "and tour operator" Solveks-tour ", tour operator" South Cross "and travel agencies" Sea Solntse "and" Sky Tour ". On the facts of fraud in some criminal cases were initiated from these companies.
Tourism industry reform
In connection with the termination of the activities of many tour operators and travel agencies, the government ordered by October 1 to prepare an interdepartmental legislation that would strengthen consumer protection in the tourism market in Russia.
So, about the creation of 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 deal with entrepreneurial activity will not.
He also explained that the government abandoned plans for compulsory licensing, since it is not a 100% guarantee against bankruptcy of tour operators and only "creates a headache for the licensing authority" and prerequisites 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, insuring the travel companies themselves against the risk of bankruptcy.