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As it was announced on April 26th, the French Embassy staff working upon the local contracts went on strike on April 27th. The Press Service of the Embassy confirmed the information, however, having pointed out that the procedure of acceptance of application documents and of visa issuing will be carried out in the normal regime. ‘We respect the rights of our staff, including the right to participate in a strike. I think, we will cope with the situation and will avoid negative consequences’, commented a representative of the Press Service.
Nevertheless, the Embassy did not accept application documents on April 27th – they processed only individual invitations with a flight on April 28-29th.
Meanwhile, Ekaterina Ivanova, the Head of France Department of Tourbureau Moscow, commented on the situation as follows: ‘A strike right before May Holidays is very unfavourable. We still have not got visas for those tourists who leave for France on April 29th. We hope that on April 28th the Embassy will work in a normal regime’.
‘At the moment a big delegation from the French region Rona-Alps is visiting Moscow, therefore there should not be serious changes within the working schedule of the French Embassy. Our company received visas before the strike started, as a result it practically did not affect the work of Inna-tour’, stated Svetlana Kurkovich, Tourism Director of Inna Tour.
Furthermore, according to Ludmila Tikhonenkova, Vice President of Lanta-tour Voyage, around thirty visas for their clients were not issued in time. Consequently, some tourists from the Russian regions had to stay in Moscow hotels waiting for their documents to be processed. ‘We have nothing but to hope the situation will soon stabilize’, said Tikhonenkova.
BANKO will continue reporting on the development of events.
