The termination of the “anti-sanction moratorium” on bankruptcy led to predictable consequences – individuals, i.e., most likely tourists or other citizens, filed a bankruptcy petition with the Moscow Arbitration Court for one of the well-known Russian tour operators . However, their case, most likely, “will not work out,” according to ATOR experts.
According to them, the application, which was filed by two citizens in an attempt to bankrupt the tour operator ICS Travel Group, is unlikely to be considered by the court. According to the information of the association, the bankruptcy petition of LLC TK “Intercontact-Service” (manages the tour operator ICS Travel Group) was filed by two individuals with the Arbitration Court of Moscow.
“We are carefully studying the current situation and intend to resolve it in working mode, within the legal framework. The story of receiving a claim from clients is a standard one for many tour operators who have faced a crisis situation in outbound tourism over the past 2.5 years due to covid restrictions and anti-Russian sanctions. The tour operator ICS Travel Group has not escaped this practice either,” Oksana Volkanova, Development Director of ICS Travel Group, commented for ATOR.
At the same time, the expert emphasized that the company’s business is going on as usual, tourists go on vacation every day all available destinations. “For example, today alone more than 100 tourists flew to Sri Lanka, Turkey and the UAE,” commented a company representative.
In turn, legal experts working in tourism and not only added in the comments for the association that both the tourism industry and companies from other industries are currently facing similar risks. “Lawsuits and abuse of the right by consumers and customers” is not uncommon. As a result, lawyers express doubt that the court will satisfy the claim – practice shows that in general in such cases it does not reach the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings.
Recall that in the industry as a whole, the forecast of experts is not so optimistic: after the end of the anti-sanction moratorium on bankruptcy, the tourism industry will become one of the first industries that will be at risk, they say. We are talking about a moratorium on bankruptcy and recovery, which was announced by the Government of the Russian Federation in accordance with Decree No. 497 from April 1. Its validity period has expired – accordingly, from October 2, creditors can again initiate initiation of insolvency proceedings for debtors – including on the tourist market.
At the same time, according to experts, in addition to the ban on the introduction of bankruptcy proceedings at the initiative of creditors, the moratorium suspended enforcement proceedings on penalties that arose before its introduction and prohibited the imposition of financial sanctions for late repayment of debts. According to legal experts working in the tourism market, the situation is not the best – this moratorium saved many companies from financial losses and ruin…
At the risk zone is, first of all, the tourism industry, experts noted, next come public catering, household services, industries related to imports … According to the Unified Federal Register of Bankruptcy Information, on the very first day after the end of the moratorium, creditors published 454 notices of intent to initiate insolvency cases for their debtors, which is several times more than the number of notifications in the time before the adoption of the moratorium.
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