Experts from the legal and tourism community explained that a warning from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about risks in Abkhazia does not necessarily entail a full refund for tours.
According to lawyers of the TurDom portal, this statement is not an official notification of a security threat in the country, which does not give grounds for cancellation of contracts between travel agencies and their clients.
Bookings for tours to Abkhazia for the season-2024 are almost sold out, however, after the warning of the Foreign Ministry, some tourists are thinking about the possibility of cancelling their trips or revising their plans. Nevertheless, many of them, having learnt that a full refund is impossible, are inclined to leave their reservations.
According to the results of a survey in the Telegram channel "Roof of TourDom", one third of the participants who planned a holiday in Abkhazia, are considering the possibility of cancelling trips, and another 20% are thinking about the need for such a step. However, most tourists were not going to visit Abkhazia this year, and only a small part of them have already had experience of holidaying in this republic.
Despite warnings and possible doubts of tourists, Abkhazia remains one of the most popular foreign holiday destinations among Russians. Last year more than 1.3 million Russian tourists travelled there, which is confirmed by the FSB data on the number of border crossings.
Earlier, tourists in Bali were warned about unplanned expenses.