11/08/2019 16:16

New Scandal in Turkey

[IMG=20652-6436]On August 8th it was found out that more than 100 clients of St. Petersburg Travel Company World Travel were not hosted by Black Eagles Travel Agency (incoming company of Moscow tour operator GTI) on their arrival to Antalya on August 6th. As a result, tourists had to wait at the airport for several hours. World Travel - an exclusive representative of GTI in St. Petersburg – has organized tours in cooperation with GTI consolidating flights by Pulkovo Airlines from St. Petersburg. Elena Fortigina, General Director of World Travel, said in the interview to a BANKO correspondent, that as of August 2nd the company was indebted to Black Eagles and the partner asked to pay the debt on Thursday, August 3rd. ‘But we received the invoice late therefore paid the debt on August 4th and money was transferred to the Turkish company’s account on Friday evening’, said Fortigina. However, according to her, on August 5th Black Eagles representatives said to World Travel clients who arrived to Turkey on July 29th and 31st that their rooms were not paid (or were partly paid) and asked them to either pay the rest or move to other hotels. Moreover, some Russians were asked to pay for return tickets ($450) although, Fortigina explained, the tourists bought roundtrip tickets with their tours in St. Petersburg. ‘We presented all documents that confirm payments to the Russian Travel Industry Union, GTI and Turkish hoteliers. The Russian Travel Industry Union stood bail for reliability and paying capacity of World Travel. Nevertheless, the ‘partners’ ignored all the documents, guarantees and confirmations’, says, in particular, an official statement published on the forum of professional travel portal www.tourdom.ru by the St. Petersburg operator. As a result World Travel accommodated its tourists with the help of other incoming companies. World Travel plan not to continue co-operation with Black Eagles. ‘We will work with other incoming companies in Turkey', said Fortigina. Representatives of GTI said in the interview to a BANKO correspondent that at the moment the company is preparing to present officially its opinion about the situation.