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At the beginning of May Vittorio Claudio Surdo was appointed to the position of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy in the Russian Federation that will obviously result into changes within the Consulate, Russian tour operators believe.
At the moment situation in the Consulate is stable. The only problem refers to shortage of consulate agents in the peak season. According to Russian travel market players a tourist flow from Russia annually increase by 25-30%. Therefore, shortage of consulate staff sometimes affects tours to Italy owing tardily issued visas.
Thus, Olga Shagalova, Director of Strada Company, commented as follows: ‘for example, before May Holidays the Italian Consulate had to work extra hours trying to cope with application flow – 2, 500 visas per day. We are afraid, the situation might repeat in summer’.
Meanwhile, a Representative of Mondo Tours stated as follows: ‘every newly appointed Ambassador tried to adopt some new rules. Thus, three years ago it was decided to hire additional staff for summer. This could be the best decision for this summer too!’.
