REUTERS Photo
More than 27,000 Russian tourists have been stranded abroad, a tour operators association said Monday, as the latest in a series of travel companies failed amid strains over the Ukrainian crisis.
"All the tourists are abroad without return tickets" after the Labirint (Labyrinth) company announced Saturday it halted operations, said the Tourhelp service of Russian foreign tour agencies which is trying to help those stranded find seats on flights chartered by other travel firms.
Labirint is the fourth Russian tour operator to go bust in the past three weeks as jitters over the conflict in Ukraine has led to a slide in bookings for Russians to travel abroad.
A deterioration in the value of the ruble has also cut into the margins of operators.
"The negative political and economic situation has influenced the number of bookings" and a drop in the value of the ruble "has hit buying power" of Russians, Labirint said in a statement explaining the reasons for a halt in its operations....MORE
