Tour operators are struggling for differentiated payments to the Fund for the Protection of the rights of the tourists

Legislative innovations in the field of tourism were discussed at the meeting of the Committee of the tourism industry NCE RK "Atameken".

In particular, one of the issues was the discussion of draft resolutions of the Government of Kazakhstan developed by MID in order to implement the draft law "On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of  Kazakhstan on issues of industrial and innovation policy", which is being considered by the deputies of the Senate. These changes are the result of systematic joint work of NCE RK and the Department of tourism industry MID RK within two years.

Representatives of the Committee of  NCE RK, heads of industry associations, as well as the management of the airline “Air Astana” discussed the amount of bank guarantees for tour operators and tour operators, charterers, the amounts to be paid into a special account of the administrator of the system for guaranteeing the rights of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of outbound tourism, setting the amount of fees, which will finance the administrator of the system.

Director of LLP “Kazunion” Laura Galieva offered that the charters of the Fund should finance it and administration of the project should be entrusted to the Association of Tour Operators of Kazakhstan. Senior vice president of airline “Air Astana” Erbol Ospanov said that the management of the Fund should be entrusted to the authorized public bodies (MID PK). In his opinion, it would eliminate the confusion among the participants of the market. In addition, the air carriers recommend to prescribe the minimum level of contribution for the tour operators in the draft law. Tour operators analyzed the market and published their calculations.

"We believe that for the tour operators- affreighters, it is necessary to determine the contributions of 1% of the annual turnover of tours on charter flights. But it should not be less than 50 million tenge or 25 thousand MCI. The financial guarantee in the field of outbound tourism should not be less than 30 million tenge or 15 thousand MCI. I believe that this amount is acceptable for the average tour operator", - said Laura Galieva.

President of the Association of Tourist Agencies of Kazakhstan (ATAK) Asel Nurkebaeva expressed the view that the approach to the calculation of the above amounts must be differentiated - depending on the number of sold packages. The same view is held by the chairman of the Astana branch of the Independent Association of Entrepreneurs Kanat Eleusizov.

Moreover, according to tour operators, for the establishment of the Fund for the emergency situations, it is necessary to possess accurate data on the number of tourists traveling during a year. According to LLP “Kazunion”, on average 350-450 thousand tourists fly by charter and major flights. On this basis, the amount of savings for the force majeure may exceed 100 million tenge.

However, not all participants agreed with such calculations. Director of the Association of Legal Entities "Kazakhstan Tourist Association" Rashida Shaikenova is sure that calculations of the industry may not be in the millions.

According to R. Shaikenova with such contribution only major Russian companies will remain at the Kazakhstani market, and domestic ones will go into the shadows.

Another issue, which was under consideration, is the letter of MID RK on increasing the number of flights in the direction of Turkey in season of 2016.

Committee members divided over the advisability of increasing the number of flights in a situation, where the large tour operators suggested a reduction in sales volumes in the next season.

The third question is the outcome of the Committee's legislative activities in the current year.

In total, 53 amendments were introduced to 9 existing laws and codes of the Republic of  Kazakhstan  as a result of the joint work of the Committee and DTI MID RK. The proposed amendments were aimed at:

1) significant changes in the conditions of activity in the field of domestic tourism - the introduction of new management models (special tourist zones, convention bureaus, centers of tourism development), new instruments (the system of tourist certificate), the introduction of tax incentives, simplify conditions for conducting tourism activities in PAs etc.;

2) the introduction of a system of financial support in the field of outbound tourism, aimed at protecting the rights of tourists.

At this stage, it adopted 16 amendments in the field of outbound tourism, aimed at protecting the rights of tourists and increased financial responsibility of tour operators.

There were introduced (5 amendments) in the LRK "On compulsory insurance of civil liability of the tour operators and travel agents" in terms of the separation and specification of the object of insurance between the tour operator and travel agent in connection with the fact that, in accordance with the Law "On tourist activity in the Republic of Kazakhstan” tour operators and travel agents, perform different types of tourist activity.

Implementation of the changes, affecting the scope of domestic tourism, is not taken within the framework of the draft law, scheduled for 2016.

At the end of the meeting - moderator - Deputy Chairman of the NCE RK Gulnar Kurbanbaeva invited participants to review again all the innovations and to forward their proposals on the size of contributions and the work of the new Fund within a week to the Secretariat of the Committee of the tourism industry NCE RK, as well as to reach a consensus on increasing the number of flights.