ATOR: the reason for the suspension of Ted Travel tour operator’s activity was active dumping

On its website tour operator Ted Travel announced on August 24 about the termination of activities due to the inability to fulfill its obligations for tourists and customers. “The reason for the suspension of the activities was the sale of tours at prices below the market average”, - the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) reported on Friday. Ted Travel itself in its statement called the decline in demand for the rest in Turkey, connected with the spread of Coxsacka virus there, as the reason for leaving the market. According to ATOR, the tour operator began acting on the market only in the last year and started working on the most competitive destinations - Cyprus, Greece and Turkey (since 2017). "At the same time, the new player immediately stated prices much lower than those of the other tour operators. What other market participants called dumping in the company was explained as acquaintance and flexibility. Many tourists chose Ted Travel tours because of the low price. A lot of attractive promotion actions were announced on the website of the tour operator. For example, on August 17 he offered an "Action 777" from Ted Travel to Turkey for free!", - reports ATOR. Earlier, the source in the tourism industry informed the portal "Interfax-Tourism" that the debt of the tour operator to the Turkish host partner Jazz Travel is at least one million dollars. Ted Travel on Thursday announced the suspension of activities. The financial responsibility of the tour operator is insured in insurance companies "Investstrakh" and JSC "Yakor" for 25 million rubles in each. Thus, the total amount of financial security is 50 million rubles. Both insurances are valid until January 15, 2018. According to ATOR, in Turkey there can now be from 750 to 800 tourists of a bankrupt tour operator and there are another 2,000 - 2,800 people, who purchased tours but did not fly. The total number of victims is about 2.7 - 3.5 thousand.