Tour operators in Russia stop selling tours to Caribbean, Latin America

MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Russian tour operators have suspended selling tours to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, and Cuba, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) said.

"Tours for all dates starting from February 28 to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba became unavailable in tour operators' booking systems on Sunday evening. A search for tours for March dates in the booking systems shows no flights for the selected dates in attempts to buy a tour online," the report said.

Trans-Atlantic flights are among the first to be halted after Europe, ATOR said. In particular, Aeroflot has cancelled flights to the United States and Mexico, and flights to Havana are unavailable until the end of March. AZUR air said flights to the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico have been cancelled.

"Nordwind and Royal Flight will most likely do it soon, and only repatriation flights will be planned on all Caribbean tracks starting from tomorrow," the report said.

ATOR said, citing market experts, that the decision was made due to the amount of flying time, besides the risks of seizure of aircraft due to the sanctions.

"There is no threat to our planes on Cuba, but bearing in mind the closure of the air space of the Scandinavian countries and Canada any flight there becomes difficult, not accessible to all planes, and most importantly, fantastically expensive," the report said.