One of the old-timers of the Russian tourist market - operator DSBW Tours - on Tuesday, July 3, recognized its financial inconsistency. "In the current circumstances, we can no longer fulfill our obligations to customers and the bank. The last few years we have been honestly fighting for the preservation of our business, "founder and owner of the company Karen Goncharov wrote on his Facebook page. He confirmed to RBC fact of the suspension of the tour operator, without specifying the number of affected customers. According to the Russian Union of Travel Industry, it is about 1.2 thousand people.

In the tourist market DSBW Tours has been operating since 1991. The company originally specialized in bus tours to Europe, then began to offer and programs with air transportation. This season, as indicated on the site of the DSBW Tours, the tour operator sent tourists on flights of Ural Airlines, Aeroflot, Alitalia and Iberia to Rimini, Barcelona, ​​Rome, Madrid and Valencia.

In recent years, the once famous tour operator has dramatically reduced the scale of the work. Yurlitso tour operator - LLC "Tour Operator DSBV-Tours" - sent in 2017, only 1.1 thousand customers abroad, indicated in the Single Federal Register of Tour Operators, which conducts Rosturizm. This data is stated by the company itself, Rosturizm does not have the opportunity to check these figures.

Financial guarantor of the tour operator for 50 million rubles. is the insurance company Orbita. Her employee specified to RBC that there had been no official notification of the suspension of activities from the tour operator. In accordance with the law "On the Basics of Tourist Activities in the Russian Federation" LLC "Tour Operator DSBV-Tours" transferred to the fund of personal liability almost 675 thousand rubles, these funds can also be used to calculate with the affected tourists. If there is a need for the evacuation of home to foreign clients of the tour operator, then for this purpose, the reserve fund will be used, to which each operator of outbound tourism makes deductions. In DSBW Tours, this amount was 100 thousand rubles.

Problems "due to financial disagreements"

DSBW Tours announced its insolvency against the backdrop of public financial problems of another oldest tour operator - the "Natalie Tours" since 1992. Last week, its management announced the termination of all charter programs, which, according to the president of "Natalie Tours" Vladimir Vorobyov, account for no more than 30% of the total transportation. First, Vorobyov explained the abandonment of charters by their low financial performance, then admitted on his Facebook page that it was a forced measure after the Friday, June 29, due to "financial disagreements" the host company in Spain - World2Meet - ceased cooperation with "Natalie Tours". In World2Meet and its head structure, the Iberostar Group did not respond to RBC's request.

Natalie Tours has debts to foreign partners, RBC managing directors of Turkish Peninsula Tours Farkhet Chechek and Dubai Alpha Tours Adnan Aridi confirmed to RBC. The amount of debt they did not specify. Aridi only added that Alpha Tours does not intend to stop cooperation with "Natalie Tours": "We have been working for a long time, and I can not say goodbye to them because of the situation that has occurred."

Due to "inattention to risks", more than a thousand clients of "Natalie Tours" were injured, Alexander Osaulenko, the executive director of the association "Turpomoshch", who was created specifically to help clients of ruined tour operators and unite all firms that send tourists abroad, acknowledged. At the same time, Turpomosti reminds that "Natalie Tours" continues its activity, and therefore, for compensation, its customers should contact the company itself. On Wednesday, July 4, the tour operator must meet with his agents to discuss the compensation mechanism, RBC Vorobyov said.

Like DSBW Tours, in recent years, "Natalie Tours" has lost the title of a major tour operator. If by the end of 2013 the company claimed 950 thousand customers, according to the results of 2017, three legal entities of "Natalie Tours", according to the roster of Rosturizm, sent no more than 22,600 tourists abroad.

Difficult season

This summer, financial problems are announced by small, although once-famous companies. This is the fundamental difference of the current situation from the summer season of 2014, when several large tour operators (Neva, Labyrinth, Southern Cross, etc.) went bankrupt, as a result of which, according to officials, about 75,000 people were injured, human.

But this season proved to be difficult not only for DSBW Tours and "Natalie Tours", the tour operators surveyed by RBC say. After the US expanded sanctions against Russian citizens and companies and the ruble sharply fell in April, all tour operators sold sales of about 40%, the owner of one of the travel agencies says. In April 2018, the average euro exchange rate increased by 6% compared to March and by 23% compared to the same period of the previous year, to 74.6 rubles. The maximum price for the euro in April was 79.28 rubles.

Negative impact on sales and expensive after oil, aviation fuel, recognizes the president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Sergei Shpilko. In accordance with the contracts, airlines have the right to demand additional payments from customers of charter programs due to increased fuel prices, explains Deputy Director General of STC Intourist Sergey Tolchin. Aviation kerosene at airports in Moscow in June rose in price compared to May on average by almost 3%, according to Rosaviation. In Domodedovo the growth was 4%, in Vnukovo - 4,7-4,8%, in Sheremetyevo - 0-4,6%. This seriously complicated the lives of tour operators who have already sold the tour packages, which were put tickets at the old price, summarizes Shpilko.

Another negative factor for tour operators in this season are high compared with last summer, hoteliers prices. If the most popular among Russians in the Turkish direction to local hotel owners a year ago was important to restore the tourist flow (from December 2015 to July 2016 in Russia, the ban on selling tours to Turkey was in effect) and they did not skimp on special offers, then this season sales is no longer, gives the example of the head of the tour operator.

The season is complicated, the executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, Maya Lomidze, confirms. According to her, after the well-stocked early booking in January-March since April, almost all tour operators have a depth of sales: first of all, they are sold budget tours and, as a rule, at the very last moment. On the eve of the season tour operators were clearly counting on the best sales, states Lomidze.