We know everything about bankruptcy
24/11/2024
Sunday
24 November 
1970 The United States and the USSR ratified the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
1970 The Central Committee of CPSU restored the national autonomy of the Kalmyks, Karachais, Balkars, Chechens and Ingush.
1970 Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species - the first edition was sold out in a day.
BELARUS LOST EVERY FIFTH TRAVEL AGENCY
The travel industry is going through hard times amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdown. In Belarus, the situation was further complicated by internal political circumstances, because of which the state authorities were in no hurry to recognize the problems of the industry and therefore to allocate financial assistance to save it. According to the RSTO organization, about 20% of companies providing travel services left the market during the previous year.
As reported by the Smartpress media with reference to the head of the RSTO Oksana Bichun, many travel agencies in the country hoped for the state support measures, similar to those used by the governments of other countries.
However, the Belarusian travel agencies have not received any subsidies, or concessional lending, or tax holidays or any relaxation of regulatory requirements from the regulators.
The only opportunity that travel companies currently may rely on is a deferral for the fulfillment of the obligations to some of the clients remaining with travel agencies. Many, as Oksana Bichun notes, managed to reimburse their obligations, having paid offfrom 60% to 80% of existing debts. Taking money from the turnover, which was received from the directions open for travel, the companies solved some of the problems on their own and managed to postpone a significant part of the obligations for the coming year.
It is noted that the travel agencies of Belarus have obligations not only to their clients. Many companies will have to cover the debts on taxes, wages, utilities and other services, including the software used. The head of RSTO referred to Decrees No. 143 and No. 178 adopted by the country's authorities. Considering that one of the decrees was in effect only until the end of July 2020, while the procedure for its implementation was discussed with the industry representatives only on June 19 and many companies simply did not have time to fully use the mechanisms.
It is already known that the effect of the normative act aimed at the financial support of the sectors of the economy most affected by the pandemic (Decree No. 143) was extended by the country's authorities on January 6, 2021. However, the extent to which this may affect the tourism industry remains a mystery.
The head of RSTO noted that the catastrophic loss of revenue (up to 80%) led to massive layoffs of employees.
About 60% of specialists found another job, hoping for a normalization of the economic situation and the opportunity to return to the industry in the future. However, the ongoing pandemic runs the risk of severely hitting the workforce. It is worth noting that the training of specialists in the tourism area is actually not carried out properly in the country's universities and the experienced and trained employees are usually in search of well-paid work in other companies.
