Compensation for tour companies' losses expected to be made by expanding internal tourism, not just with payments - Dvorkovich
MOSCOW. Nov 11 (Interfax) - The Russian government proposes to link the methods of supporting Russian tour operators to the expansion of internal tourism instead of just paying them compensation for cancelled tours to Egypt, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said.
"We are considering all support options. The operators were talking about amounts ranging from 1.5 billion rubles to 2 billion rubles over the course of one year. We want to link [these payments] to the expansion of internal tourism, not just compensate for losses from cancelled tours abroad," Dvorkovich told a 'government hour' meeting in the State Duma.
Dvorkovich said yesterday's meeting between Russian government officials and leading Russian tour operators produced the impression that the problems that have arisen on the tour market are now being taken more calmly and less emotionally.
Dvorkovich said that "tours to other countries will, of course, be more expensive than to Egypt and than they were before because operators are trying to get partial compensation for their expenses. "At the same time, the government is looking for a decision that will enable operators to "get compensation for their losses abroad by working more broadly on the internal market," he said, responding to some parliamentarians' questions about the increasing costs of tours, specifically, on the Asian track.