Closed Turkish tourism destination may leave many unemployed — tourism union

Major tourism operators with the Turkish shares will have to review their presence in the Russian market, and many Russians, working for those companies, may face losing jobs, press secretary of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry Irina Turina said on Monday. "The holdings, which unite big operators, will have to decide whether they should continue working in Russia," she said. "Those are big companies, employing 600-800 Russians each. If the Turkish operators decide to quit the Russian market, all those people will lose jobs. However, even if the companies continue working, they will anyway cut jobs since the destinations of Turkey and Egypt are closed now." Many tourist agencies will also have to stop their work as within only one month they have lost two most popular destinations, she added. Head of the Russian state tourism agency Rostourism Oleg Safonov said big Russian tourism operators with Turkish capital had been working in the interests of Turkey. He said their business was focused on "pumping out" money from Russia to Turkey; while now the tourism operators will be working in the interests of the Russian Federation. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that suspends employment of Turkish workers starting from January 1, 2016. Also, Russia suspends the visa-free travel agreement with Turkey, imposes bans or restrictions on imports of certain goods (the list will be determined by the government). Besides, travel agencies are advised against selling holiday packages to Turkey. The government is instructed to tighten control over activities of Turkish haulage companies and to ban chartered flights between Russia and Turkey with the goal of ensuring security within Russia.