The court found the travel agency “Neva” bankrupt – BBC Russian

The court found the travel agency "Neva" bankrupt – BBC Russian

• January 13, 2015

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“Neva”, the oldest tour operator in Russia, announced the suspension of its activities in the summer of 2014

Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region declared bankrupt travel agency “Neva” and entered bankruptcy proceedings, according to the website of the court.

The application for bankruptcy JSC “Company” Neva “was submitted to the court on August 13.

A month earlier, the tour operator announced the suspension of activities, citing the inability to fulfill obligations to customers and tourists.

At this point, trips abroad, the company acquired 19 thousand tourists.

In November, was detained by General Director of “Neva” Maxim Pirogov, who, according to investigators, “committed theft from Customers funds.”

It is reported that as a result of the suspension of the tour operator suffered six thousand people, with damage estimated at more than 450 million rubles (6.6 million dollars at current exchange rate).

Risks remain

In 2014, Russia swept a wave of bankruptcies chain of travel agencies. Only in the summer on the termination of their activities announced nine major Russian tour operators – such as “Expo Tour”, “Labyrinth”, “Wind Rose World,” “Ideal Tour”.

In August Investigative Committee opened five criminal cases of fraud in connection with the suspension of the travel agencies.

Following Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev accused the major travel agencies in the work on the principle of pyramid schemes and stated that companies that are not in contact with Rosturizm should forcibly shut down.

In the Federal Tourism Agency estimated that the amount of financial claims affected travelers insurance often exceeds ten times.

As for the “Neva”, then, according to the agency, in 2013 she received from the sale of tourist services 3,684,000,000 rubles (more than $ 55 million), the amount of financial security of the company was estimated at 454.2 million rubles, or more than eight times smaller.

On Tuesday, the acting head of the Federal Tourism Agency Oleg Safonov in interview to “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” said the risk of bankruptcies Russian tour operators in 2015 is preserved.

“There are risks. Unfortunately, you can not firmly predict how to behave in the ruble against foreign currencies. Also, we still do not fully understand what will happen to the price of oil. All this affects the business, and the tour operator is no exception, “- said Safonov.