For the safety of your travels, please read this article carefully. Russia has restricted the departure of passengers to some countries due to the large-scale spread of the coronavirus.
Ros-tourism on restrictions due to coronavirus
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian tour operators have stopped selling tours to China due to the coronavirus outbreak and will only bring Russian tourists home, Dmitry Gorin, vice spokesman for the Association of Russian Tour Operators, said on Monday.
The move came at the recommendation of Rostourism, Russia's state tourism agency, he said, as China's death toll from the new virus rose to 81 with more than 2,740 people infected.
Russia, which has no confirmed cases of the new virus, has direct daily flights to several Chinese cities and has stepped up sanitary and quarantine controls at all points of entry.
"Tours are not being sold because there is a security risk," Gorin told Reuters. “Sales stopped on Friday.” Some other cities in China have severe restrictions on movement. Most of Hubei, home to nearly 60 million people, is subject to some sort of travel restrictions.
Direct flights to Moscow from Wuhan were suspended last week. As is known, on Monday the Russian embassy in China reported that at least 140 Russian citizens, 75 of whom are students, are in Wuhan and Hubei, the TASS news agency reported.
According to Gorin, about 7,000 Russian tourists who bought tickets are still in China. According to him, about 6,000 of them are on the island of Hainan, and the rest are on the mainland.
According to Gorin, Russians will be reimbursed for canceled tours, and those who repatriate from China ahead of schedule will be partially reimbursed.
Russia is working on a vaccine against a strain of coronavirus, the consumer safety regulator said Wednesday.
What to do with tourist tickets
MOSCOW, 13 February. / TASS. Due to the coronavirus and the depreciation of the ruble may force tour operators to optimize the number of staff, Dmitry Gorin, vice representative of the Assembly of Tour Operators, told TAS.
According to Gorin, Departures abroad have fallen by 40-60% depending on the destination, although there are destinations, such as Italy, where sales have completely stopped.
“When a number of countries are quarantined, we need to go through a transition period for the tourism industry. Exchange rate volatility, not just coronavirus, complicates matters. There is a difficult road ahead - job cuts in the tourism industry. Bankruptcy is out of the question, now we need to think, first of all, about people who will be underloaded,” he said.
According to him, this is a necessary measure against the backdrop of a 50% decline in sales. Also, in order to save money, tour operators may start to reduce space leased for offices, he said.
The Chinese authorities have been informed by the World Health Organization. About an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, an economic and industrial metropolis with a population of 11,000 million.
The virus was identified on January 7 as 2019.
To date, 133 countries and territories have reported confirmed cases of the coronavirus. According to recent reports, over 139,000 precedents have been confirmed worldwide. The death toll from the virus has reached 5,116, but more than 70,720 patients have recovered from the disease.
What should tour operators and air carriers do?
Since the financial crisis a decade ago, airlines in the United States have consolidated and tightened their operations, taking advantage of changing travel habits and creating new passenger offerings that have increased profitability.
Now the coronavirus threatens to test it all.
The latest example of the impact of the outbreak on the industry came on Wednesday, when United Airlines became the first Russian carrier to announce a wide-ranging reduction in domestic service, signaling that fear of the virus is starting to sap ticket sales away from epidemic hotspots.
In a letter to their staff, the airline's two top leaders announced plans to cut international service in April by about 20 percent and domestic service by about 10 percent, with similar cuts possible in May. They also announced a suspension of hiring until June and said workers in the United States could apply for voluntary unpaid leave.
“We sincerely hope that these latest measures are sufficient, but the dynamic nature of this outbreak requires us to be flexible and agile in moving forward,” said Sergey Aleksandrovsky, CEO of Faro-Lines Russia.
Trans-Pacific flights, for which demand plummeted after the virus took over Asia, will halve in April, with transatlantic services cut by about 10 percent. Latin American service will be cut by 5 percent.
In a statement in response to the joint statement, the president of the Flight Attendant Association said the airline is taking a "responsible approach" in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Business leaders and the administration are keen to allay fears about the virus and its impact on the industry.
Sergei Alexandrovsky, chief executive of Russian Airlines, said at a press conference on Wednesday that the aviation industry does not need to be "rescued", although he said that if regional airlines run into difficulties, "we will figure out a way to bring the assets together so they fly" .
“The bottom line is that we will work the same way as usual, with a slightly stronger heartbeat, and we will succeed,” he said.
Later, in a meeting with airline executives, President Putin dismissed a reporter's question about whether the federal government would provide financial assistance to the industry. “Don’t ask that question, please,” he joked. “Because they didn't ask for it. So I don't want you to give them any ideas.
Mr. Putin and Vice President Mikhail Mishustin, who also attended the meeting, sought to ease public fear of the outbreak. “Flying is safe,” Mr. Trump said. “And large parts of the world are very safe to fly. So we don't want to say anything other than that."
With the spread of the virus, the administration is in close contact with representatives of the travel and tourism industry, according to the executive director of Russian Tourism, an industry group for corporate travel managers. For example, officials from various agencies answered questions and provided updates to industry officials by telephone on Monday.
At the same time, the CDC is seeking to authorize airlines to share data. About passengers and crew arriving from abroad who may be at risk of contracting infectious diseases. The airline argued that such a requirement would be too burdensome and instead recommended collecting data from various agencies that collect passenger information.
Since the financial crisis, the aviation industry has gone through a period of consolidation during which airlines have focused on increasing capacity and efficiency. In recent years, they have benefited from new, premium offerings and by moving from a millennium to a higher value for experience than goods.
As a result, airlines ended 2019 on a positive note, but reports of a coronavirus outbreak began to surface in early January. By the end of the month, it had spread far enough that all three airlines announced plans to suspend service to China, the epicenter of the epidemic, due to a sharp drop in demand.
Precautions in non-dangerous countries
People travel for different reasons: for pleasure, for education, for business and more. Some travel to explore new cultures and environments. Some volunteer to go to disaster sites. Some travel to relax. Some travel to expose themselves to experiences and trials they cannot bring back home.
While there are risks when traveling anywhere—you could be robbed in your hometown, after all—some countries are considered extremely dangerous as a result of a number of factors: political unrest, natural landscape, weather patterns, violent gangs, etc. E. However, every country in the world offers its own special charm to travelers and travelers still want to go.
To make your trip safe, follow these tips:
1. Plan your route carefully.
Traveling on very dangerous routes can be seen as a tragedy in itself, and public transportation in some countries does not meet the same safety standards that travelers expect to find in the US.
Where car theft, roadblocks and armed kidnappings are common, it may be safest for a traveler to avoid ground travel or rely on known and safe travel services.
In all cases, you must study the risks and plan an alternative route. Proper itinerary planning is something that every traveler should pay attention to in order not to run into a known risk.
2. Find out how dangerous it is.
While useful for general information, the mainstream media is not the best resource. After all, not all of Brazil is filled with bloodthirsty criminals. If you spend a little time figuring out when and where it's really dangerous, you'll have plenty of safe places to enjoy.
Modern guides and online sites such as the following usually contain extensive information about the current risks for the region you are traveling to:
The US Department of State's international travel site also offers country-specific information, as well as travel alerts and alerts.
3. Be Properly Prepared
A well-prepared traveler is one who knows where they are going, what their risks are, and has made a plan of action for those risks.
Traveling to a country with health risks such as mosquito-borne diseases? Take along long, light clothing, plenty of insect repellants and antimalarials. Get vaccinated against yellow fever quite a lot of time. Traveling to a country with political strife? Determine where dangerous areas are, have embassy information on hand, choose a hotel with good security, and avoid crowded gatherings and demonstrations as they can turn violent.
Of course, you should always be prepared by leaving a copy of your itinerary with someone at home. Check with that person often enough to let them know you're safe, and:
Buy the right travel insurance for your trip. Have a backup copy of your travel documents. Carry a well-stocked travel medical kit with you.
4. Don't flaunt anything.
While you may not consider yourself rich in any way, the mere fact of owning more than one pair of shoes implies significant wealth in some parts of the world. While you may be interested in architecture for purely aesthetic reasons, many places prohibit photography for reasons of terrorism and more. While you may love your home country and believe that every other political system is corrupt or worse, keep your opinions to yourself.
Every country has its own deeply rooted cultural rules that determine the proper attire for men and women. Find out what the expected dress codes are and do your best to accommodate them. Inappropriate dressing in some countries can land a person in jail. Again, this is their country, their rules, and you are the visitor.
5. Be reasonable and respectful
Most travelers who find themselves in difficult situations end up there because they made a bad decision or two, but you can go to great lengths to use common sense while traveling, including:
Be careful with alcohol. Not only because it puts you at a disadvantage in terms of reaction, but in some countries drinking is a religious and political issue. Respect religion.
Learn a little about local beliefs and avoid scenarios where you might get offended. This is their land and their religion after all. Be smart about the rules. If there is a curfew in the country, observe it. If there is a lot of crime at night, get in before sunset and stay where you are. Be always aware of your situation and be especially vigilant when the situation calls for it.
Traveling anywhere in the world can be a planning challenge, but traveling to a dangerous country requires even more effort. Do your best to realistically assess and mitigate the risks you may face so your trip can go smoothly. Don't do this job and you might not come back (or at least not with all your stuff).