THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The war in Ukraine has raised concerns among travel operators in the state who organise Russian and Arctic tour packages. Though the conflict so far has been limited to Ukraine, any spillover of violence to Russian lands would upset their tour schedules and result in huge financial losses.
“We cannot foresee what could happen in the coming days. If the fighting spills over to Russian land, then the tour operators will be in a spot of bother. The tour companies will endure huge financial losses if their schedule gets affected,” said chairman of Travel Agents Federation of India-Kerala Paulose K Mathew.
As per Mathew, a minimum of two batches of tourists from Kerala travel to Russia each month and several travel firms had scheduled their trips in March and April.
Mathew said arranging Russian and Arctic tours require heavy investment from the side of the tour companies and any change in the schedule will result in a major financial setback. “Arranging the logistics for the trips is very difficult and only professional operators can manage it. If there is any cancellation of the tours, then the money invested so far in reservations and bookings will be lost,” he added.
The Russian and Arctic trips are the few options that the tour companies have since most of the countries such as Canada and the US are yet to issue tourist visas due to Covid. The sources in the travel industry said the Russian and Arctic trip for 10 days can cost up to Rs 2 lakh per person. As many as eight firms from the state regularly operate such tours.