On June 30, 2009 a new law was signed in Russia on financial guarantees for tour operators. The law should be put into force by 14 September 2009, is a continuation of the law introduced in June 2007. The main difference of the new law is amount of the financial guarantees to be paid by TO's is dependent on its annual turnovers. For inbound tour operators with an annual turnover of up to100 Million Roubles or (230,000 Euro), a guarentee of 680,000 euro is required; while companies with a turn-over from between 230,000 to 6.8 Million Euro are required to a have a financial guarantee of 60 million Rub (1.3 Million Euro). Large TO's with an annual turn over in excess of 6.8 million Euro, the financial guarentee required is 2.3 million Euro (100 Million Roubles).
Those companies which fail to implement the new financial procedures by October 1, 2009 will be excluded from the official federal TO list. This is likely to most affect small and medium sized companies. Many Tour Operators associations, especially in the Far East, have already sent letters of protest to the government. Industry experts believe that the new law will have a negative effect on regional and niche TO's with small turnovers, forcing them out of the market.
The Russian Public Opinion Research Center held a survey to find out how the current economic crisis has affected the holiday plans of Russians. 65% of respondents said it did not affect their plans at all, while 30% admitted they have had to change them. Out of these 30%, 46% decided to cancel their summer vacations, 14% booked a cheaper options, and 11% decided to still go on holiday, but reduced their additional expenses. However, 51% of all respondents believe that their summer vacations won't be any worse than in 2008, while 15% have much lower expectations than last year.
Many leading Russian tour operators note a growing tendency to combine sightseeing and seaside holiday, as a lot of people reduce the frequency of travel and can afford only one trip abroad per year. Many TO's also noted a large increase in last minute bookings, including requests for 5* hotels accommodation, which was not the case in the previous years. The average duration of a trip to a European city or a seaside resort is now 10 days.
In order to stimulate the demand from the Russian market, some countries have decided to simplify their visa requirement for the Russian tourists, they include: Lithuania, Croatia and Cyprus. Spain started issuing multi-entry visa, and since July, Hong Kong became visa free for Russians staying for less than 14 days.