Friday, July 26 2019 11:00

ArmInfo.About 100 Armenian citizens are in Hurghada airport due to the cancellation of the OTF flight 3703 Hurghada-Yerevan, which was supposed to depart on July  25.  Responsible for the current situation is the company A & R tour,  which sold tickets. In addition, the company purchased air tickets  and tours to Egypt in the direction of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada,  which the A & R tour also canceled.

 In this regard, representatives of tourism companies of Armenia, in  particular, Henriva-Tur, Maratuk and Sky-Tour convened a press  conference, at which they declared their readiness to unite their  efforts together with the Armenian Embassy in Egypt in order to  return the Armenian citizens home.

Director of travel company Anriva-Tour Hripsime Istanbul said that in  total we are talking about 400 Armenian tourists, including those who  have not yet flown out, those who cannot return, as well as tourists  whose vouchers expire in a few days. In this vein, she said that two  days ago a charter with 168 vacationers flew to Hurghada, who  purchased vouchers - some for seven, some for 14 days, or even more  days. "And at the moment it is also not clear what will happen to  them," said R. Stambulyan.

In addition, she noted that the clusters were observed at Yerevan's  Zvartnots International Airport, as people had to go on holiday, but  did not fly out.

She stressed that this is not the first case associated with the  company A & R tour. <A month earlier, we appealed to law enforcement  agencies, suspecting violations by the A & R Tour, in particular,  related to fake tickets. We immediately ceased cooperation with them.  But they began to carry out charter flights>, - added the head of  Anriva-Tour. At the same time, she noted that the A & R tour travel  company had a dumping policy from the very beginning, buying tickets  from large companies and selling them to passengers at 50% cheaper.  In this vein

R.Stambulyan stressed that the situation arose in particular due to  serious gaps in the legislative field of Armenia regarding the  conduct of activities in the tourism industry. <Anyone can start  working in the tourism industry. When I raised this question in the  Aviation Committee, I was told that there is an open sky policy in  Armenia, and everyone can make flights. That is, we do not have any  levers for regulating this sphere, "she said.

It should be noted that the relatives of Armenian tourists stuck in  Hurghada gathered today at the office of the company A & R tour in  Yerevan. They were joined by representatives of other travel agencies  who booked packages through A & R tour, demanding an explanation  about the delay and cancellation of flights.