Removal of tour operators from the Federal Register - in a hurry? The largest tour operators - Coral Travel, Anex Tour and Pegas Turistik - were expelled from the Russian business Rosturizm excluded from the register of tour operators

If the tour operator outbound tourism did not create a personal responsibility fund in January, then he has no right to engage in the formation and sale of foreign tours. The basis is the provisions of the new edition of Law No. 132-FZ.

As of mid-January 2017, only 1/5 of all tour operators in the field of outbound tourism have formed a personal responsibility fund, while the deadline for creating a fund for 2017 is 12/31/2017 (clause 3 of Art. 5 Federal law dated 02.03.2016 No. 49-FZ. It is quite obvious that some companies will leave the market of tour operator services for outbound tourism, since they cannot afford to pay contributions to the personal liability fund. On the other hand, there are prerequisites for saying: large tour operators will prefer to create such a fund at once in the maximum amount in order to avoid the need to arrange financial security. The procedure for exemption from financial support has already been approved (see Order of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation of 11.11.2016 No. 2468) and registered with the Ministry of Justice on 29.12.2016.

Grounds for exclusion from the register of tour operators.

On the website of Rostourism on January 17, 2017, a message appeared that the department would be forced to exclude from the register of tour operators those who had to create a personal responsibility fund in the field of outbound tourism before January 31, 2017 and did not do it on time.

The procedure is as follows. At first, such a tour operator is excluded by the association of tour operators in the field of outbound tourism (hereinafter - Tourist assistance) from among its members.

STEP 1 - exclusion from the Tourist Assistance

According to Art. 11.1 of Law No. 132-FZ failure to pay contributions to the personal liability fund of the tour operator on time and within required size is the basis for termination of the tour operator's membership in the Tourpomposch association. By virtue of the Procedure for the submission of a notice of termination of the tour operator's membership in the said association, such a document must be drawn up and sent to Rosturizm in in electronic format within one day after the Tourist Assistance makes a decision to terminate the membership of the tour operator in the association.

Then the information about the tour operator is removed from the federal register.

STEP 2 - exclusion from the register

In accordance with Art. 4.2 of Law No. 132-FZ Rostourism excludes information about the tour operator from the register on the next day after receiving information from Tourist Assistance on the termination of membership in this association by a specific tour operator.

Thus, in the first half of February, we should expect the Federal Tourism Agency to update the list of tour operators operating in the outbound tourism market. This information is especially interesting for travel agencies that practice early booking of tours and not only. To reduce your risks of selling foreign tours on behalf of illegitimate tour operators, you need to carefully monitor information about companies that have created (not created) a personal liability fund.

General procedure for paying contributions to the personal liability fund.

All issues related to the creation and subsequent filling of personal liability funds of tour operators are formulated in paragraph 3 of Art. 5 of Law No. 49-FZ and Art. 11.6 of Law No. 132-FZ.

The personal liability fund of the tour operator is formed at the expense of an annual contribution, the amount of which is equal to 1% of the total price of a tourist product in the field of outbound tourism for the previous year (parts 2, 3, article 11.6 of Law No. 132-FZ).

Initial creation of the fund

	Contribution amount	Payment procedure
Existing tour operators	1% of the total price of a tourist product in the field of outbound tourism for the previous year (2016)	Until 31.01.2017. It is before this date that tour operators must pay contributions to the fund for 2017 (clause 3 of article 5 of Law No. 49-FZ). It is clear from the wording of the law that the full annual contribution must be paid in January.
		Before the commencement of activities in the field of outbound tourism (part 7 of article 11.6 of Law No. 132-FZ)

Accumulation of the fund

	Contribution amount	Payment procedure
Existing tour operators	1% of the total price of a tourist product in the field of outbound tourism for the previous year	Quarterly - in equal shares no later than the 15th day of each month following the expired calendar quarter (part 4 of article 11.6 of Law No. 132-FZ)
Newly created tour operators (tour operators that have not previously carried out activities in the field of outbound tourism)	1% of the total price of an outbound tourism product sold by the tour operator in the previous calendar quarter	Quarterly - no later than the 15th day of each month following the expired calendar quarter (part 4 of article 11.6 of Law No. 132-FZ)

Termination (suspension) of contributions to the fund and exemption from financial support.

The maximum size of the personal liability fund is set at not less than 7% of the total price of a tourist product in the field of outbound tourism for the previous year. Tour operators have the right to gradually increase the size of the fund or immediately create it to the maximum amount. In any case, if the fund reaches its maximum size in the current year, the tour operator has the right not to transfer contributions for the next calendar year, moreover, such a tour operator does not need financial support. However, the right to these preferences must first be confirmed by Rosturizm. The connecting link is Tourist Assistance.

Exemption from financial support and replenishment of the fund.

The procedure for carrying out this procedure is approved by Order of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation No. 2468. First, the tour operator must contact Tourist Assistance with a written application. This must be done no later than 60 days before the expiration of the current calendar year. That is, it is necessary to decide for oneself the issue of stopping filling the personal liability fund and registering financial security two months before the end of the year in which the personal liability fund reached its maximum size.

Based on this statement, Tourpomosch is preparing a draft decision on the release of the tour operator from financial support and payment of contributions to the personal liability fund for the next year.

Further, the draft decision, as part of the required package of documents, is sent to Rostourism for approval. And only after receiving a positive answer from Rostourism, the tour operator is notified of a positive resolution of his question.

Needless to say, at each stage, a refusal to consider the application of the tour operator is possible - if there is an error in the preparation of documents or inaccuracy of the specified data.

Storage of funds of the personal responsibility fund and the conditions for their return.

As stated in Art. 11.6 of Law No. 132-FZ, cash such funds are subject to placement (in rubles or foreign currency) on separate bank accounts of Tourist Assistance, and the association keeps separate records for them. Requirements for credit institutions in which the fund's funds can be deposited are established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1474 dated 24.12.2016. Income from placing the fund's assets on accounts or deposits of authorized credit institutions are credited to this fund.

When the tour operator stops its activity in the field of outbound tourism, the funds of the personal liability fund are subject to return to the tour operator if it has fulfilled all its obligations to tourists under the concluded agreements on the sale of a tourism product in the field of outbound tourism.

Of course, the described procedure for storing, increasing and returning the funds of the fund makes its one-time creation in the maximum amount more attractive compared to the gradual accumulation of the fund and the parallel registration of financial support. After all, the practice of insurance of liability of tour operators and issuance of a bank guarantee by them demonstrates the impossibility
ensuring obligations to tourists in these ways.

The contribution to the "personal" fund for 2017 is calculated on the basis of the total price of foreign tours sold by the tour operator in 2016 and is payable by 31.01.2017. After this date, tour operators that have not formed a personal liability fund will not be able to continue their activities in the field of outbound tourism. They will be excluded from the register of tour operators.

Some "big players" of the tour operator market have already indicated their readiness to create a fund in the maximum size and refuse to issue financial guarantees. The costs of paying contributions are partially offset by the agencies, which cut the percentage of agency fees. Of course, this is a painful step for tourist retail, but after 01/31/2017 it may turn out that the number of tour operators in the outbound tourism market has significantly decreased and there is simply no one to choose from, you will have to work with those who stayed, and on the terms dictated by them. Such a transformation of the market is pushing medium and small businesses to work according to “gray” schemes. Increasingly, on travel agency forums, messages began to appear about the need to return to self-booking hotels and tickets for tourists. We once again warn: organizing travel and accommodation for a client, even if based on agency agreements, is an activity to form a tourist product. This activity can only be carried out by tour operators, if the travel agency is not, it should prepare to pay colossal administrative fines.

Rostourism has excluded 29 tour operators from the Russian register, including several regional operators under the brands Pegasus, TO Coral Travel Center, Russian Express, Natalie Tours and others. This does not mean that all "Coral Travels" and "Natalie Tours" have stopped working - only a few.

If you have a voucher and an agreement with a tour operator in your hands, check the legal entity of the tour operator with the register. If it is not on the register, call the travel agency and ask how it is.

Don't panic, everyone will fly away ✈️

The excluded companies will no longer operate in outbound tourism. However, they did not close and did not go bankrupt, but continue to fulfill their obligations to tourists.

Why were they expelled?

In 2017, all tour operators are required to create personal liability funds that will act as additional insurance for tourists. If the tour operator goes bankrupt or suspends activities, tourists will not be harmed.

The size of the fund depends on the size of the tour operator, its maximum is 7% of the annual turnover. Until January 31, all operators had to pay a minimum entrance fee of 100 thousand rubles. Those who did not pay were excluded from the Russian register.

What if my tour operator is not on the register?

First, make sure that the operator is really not in the registry. The fact is that many large companies create several legal entities under one brand. Therefore, carefully check the name of the operator in your contract with the one written on the Rostourism website.

Even if your tour operator has indeed been kicked out, don't panic. Contact the agency where you bought your package. Your agent should check with the tour operator. If the vacation does not take place, the tour operator must compensate for the damage.

What and when to do to get your money back?

If you are sure that your tour operator will not be able to send you on vacation, do not wait for the start date of the tour, but immediately claim damages.

First, write a written request to the tour operator. In the request, indicate your personal data, contract details, dates and other details of the failed trip, the amount of compensation.

If the tour operator refuses or cannot refund the cost of the tour, find information on financial security in the contract. You need to find out which company has insured the tour operator's liability or provided him with a bank guarantee. Write the next requirement to this company.

If a bank guarantee or insurance is not enough to reimburse the damage, you can write a third claim - to the Tourpomosch association, which manages the tour operator's personal liability fund.

So you don't have to worry?

You don't have to worry. Although the personal liability fund will start working in full force only after 7 years, during the transition period there is a triple protection for tourists: insurance or a bank guarantee, a personal liability fund and the "Tourist Assistance" reserve fund.

Tour operators excluded from the Unified Register are urgently reformatting their work on the Russian travel market, transferring their main activities to other legal entities that have not been deleted from the register.

So, since January 1, 2016, the Coral Travel tour product is booked by Coral Travel Center Tour Operator LLC, Sunmar Tour will operate on behalf of the legal entity Sanmar Profitable Tour Operator LLC, Pegas Turistik - on behalf of the 11 tour operators remaining in the register and offers travel agencies to conclude additional contracts with LLC "Pegas Tourist Msk" and LLC "Pegas".

At the time of publication of the note, Anex Tour did not inform the agency about which legal entity would continue to work after the decision to exclude a number of tour operators from the register entered into force.

On December 30, a decree was published on the official website of the government approving the list certain types works, the performance of which is prohibited on the territory of Russia for organizations under the jurisdiction of Turkey or controlled by Turkish citizens or organizations. The list of works includes travel agency and tour operator activities.

In the evening of December 30 Federal agency on tourism excluded from unified register tour operators 19 legal entities, some of which worked in the market under the brands "Pegas Turistik", Anex Tour, Coral Travel, Sunmar Tour.

The department connected its decision with anti-Turkish sanctions, which prohibit work from January 1, 2016 travel companies, one way or another connected with Turkey.

However, of all the excluded tour operators, only two tour operators currently have obvious Turkish roots - Coral Travel and Sunmar Tour, whose founder and owner is the Istanbul-based OTI Holding.

For other legal entities, the situation is different. So, legal entities operating under the Pegas Touristik brand, until recently had Turkish citizens as founders and owners, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities: for example, the owner of Pegas Tours LLC was a Turkish citizen Bilgin Cem Kadir, the majority owner of Pegas Kazan LLC was a Turkish citizen Hole Emine, the owner of Pegas Retail LLC is Akpinar Ramazan. But in December of this year, amendments were made to the constituent documents of these companies, and now the owners are Russian citizens. As for the nationality of the beneficiaries of the tour operator Anex Tour, both companies excluded from the register - Anex Regions LLC and Anex Tour Moscow LLC - belonged to Atlas BV, a company registered in the Netherlands, and over the last year there were no changes in the information about the founders. entered.

All four tour operators - Pegas Turistik, Anex Tour, Coral Travel, Sunmar Tour - announced that they would continue to work "as usual."

Moreover, as reported to Gazeta.Ru in two Moscow travel agencies, all tour operators intend to continue selling the tourism product after January 1, that is, after the entry into force of the decision to exclude from the register. In addition, the companies announced that they are working to restore the registry. To do this, they need to send documents to Rostourism. In the near future, the companies intend to send documents to Rostourism confirming the absence of the participation of Turkish citizens or legal entities in the company's activities. The question remains how the tour operators Coral Travel and Sunmar Tour will prove this, which so far, according to the USRLE, belong to the Turkish holding.

Meanwhile, yesterday's message caused panic among the participants in the travel market.

“Rostourism excellently congratulated the Russians on the New Year, creating almost panic on tourist market... We are called from different cities by tourists who are interested in the fate of paid vouchers, and travel agencies that do not know what to answer tourists, "- said the press secretary Russian Union travel industry (). According to her, tourists began to cancel tours purchased from tour operators, which were excluded from the federal register.

The termination of the work of the largest players in the industry, which did not happen, but which was actively talked about over the past day as possible, could not only strike a blow to the tourism industry, but also seriously shake the aviation segment.

All excluded tour operators worked closely with the airlines. Thus, Pegas Turistik worked with Nord Wind and Ikar, Anex Tour - with Azur Air (since 2015 it has been part of the Anex Tourism Group holding, previously owned and operated under the Katekavia brand), Coral Travel and Sunmar Tour - with Royal Flight, as well as "". For a number of air carriers operating mainly charter flights, it was tour operators who were the main customers for transportation. The loss of the sales market threatens airlines with the downtime of a part of their fleet, while lease payments will continue to accrue.

While Rostourism emphasizes that all agreements on implementation tourist product entered into with tour operators directly or through travel agents before the deletion of information from the register, that is, before January 1, must be executed. Excluded tour operators also say that tourists who have already bought a tour will be sent on vacation.

The question remains unanswered whether tour operators will face a sharp drop in demand from frightened agencies and tourists in the already low season that will come after the end new year holidays.

This is fraught with the occurrence of a shortage working capital to continue to operate at the end of January, because blocks of places in hotels and charter orders are paid in advance, but not until the end of the entire season. In the meantime, many tourists have already started booking tours for next summer.

At the same time, all excluded tour operators have already suffered from the closure of sales of tours to Egypt, then to Turkey. The money of tourists who paid for tours to these countries was kept in annual deposits for use in other directions, in which these tour operators worked. How the issues related to sending such tourists on vacation will be resolved is anyone's guess.

On the eve of the New Year, 19 legal entities were excluded from the unified register, including the four largest tour operators. If the issue with the work of these companies in the Russian market is not resolved, the outbound tourism industry will return to the 1990s.

On the penultimate day of 2015, Rosturizm made another surprising decision. 19 legal entities were excluded from the unified federal register of tour operators (EFR). If you do not look at the names of excluded tour operators, then the situation may seem quite common: someone is constantly being excluded from the register, at the same time it is updated from time to time with data on new companies. But this time the list of excluded tour operators included the largest: "", "Sanmar Tour", "" and "" and a number of subsidiaries operating under these brands.

Representatives of the online tour booking service Level.Trevel estimated that these tour operators account for 50% of all tours booked through the company's website. At the moment, "", "Sanmar Tour", "" and "" excluded from the register have not stopped their work and hope to be reinstated in the EDF. But if hopes are not justified, the industry will face another shock: charter programs from the regions will be forgotten, and many agencies will have to close.

Allegedly Turks

The website reestr.russiatourism.ru reports that 19 tour operators have been removed from the register in accordance with a presidential decree Russian Federation dated 28.11.2015 No. 583 "On measures to ensure national security Of the Russian Federation and the protection of citizens of the Russian Federation from criminal and other illegal actions and the application of special economic measures in relation to the Republic of Turkey. "

Departure of Russians abroad for tourism in the first half of 2011-2015 (thousand trips)

Source: ratanews.ru

That is, tour operators were excluded from the register due to their alleged Turkish roots. By the way, the word "supposedly" is more than appropriate here. One can speak unambiguously about Turkish owners only in the case of Coral Travel and SANMAR Tour companies. Both of them, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, are 100% owned by joint stock company OTIHOLDING ANONIM SIRKETI.

However, a strong increase in market demand domestic tourism even if the outbound tourist flow drops, you shouldn't wait. Incomes of the population are small, and the price of Russian tourism products is not inferior to foreign ones. But in relation to quality, despite the assurances of Rostourism, there are many questions about the domestic tourism product.

But the blow to the agency market, he believes, will be colossal. She notes that each of the listed tour operators works with several thousand agencies. Most agencies work only with these tour operators, and many of them will be forced to close if the four largest tour operators leave the market.

Representatives of the agencies themselves, at least in St. Petersburg, do not yet see any difficulties. The agency "Atri Tour" (Vista franchise) said that they are ready to continue working with tour operators "Pegas Turistik", Coral Travel and Sunmar Tour and Anex Tour on the terms that these companies offer now. Also, the travel agency says that they did not encounter problems after the decision was made to exclude these tour operators from the register.

Another St. Petersburg travel agency noted that lately they only have time to be surprised at the speed with which departments make certain decisions, and tour operators have time to adapt to these decisions.

But tour operators have already had to experience the negative effect of the decision. "Removal from the register is a strong blow to our reputation, especially considering how" well "the timing of the announcement of the decision was chosen. The 31st number of employees of many agencies were no longer at their workplaces. And we had to look for ways to convey information about that we will fulfill our obligations ", - says the director of marketing and PR of the company" ".

She also explains that sales have plummeted since the announcement of the companies' deletions from the register.

Says that, according to the PCT, smaller tour operators reported an increase in sales after it became known about the exclusion of EFR "", "Sanmar Tour", "" and "".

Nevertheless, she explains that representatives of these companies consider the decision to exclude tour operators allegedly of Turkish roots unfair and fear that next time they may be excluded from the register of tour operators for rather strange reasons.

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