Travel companies saw sales of vacation packages to destinations in Russia and abroad tumble 20-40% on the first day of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Russian tour operators association ATOR reported on Friday.
Tourists are also asking about the conditions for cancelling trips, but so far few have actually done so, ATOR said.
“Sales of tour packages are lagging behind the average figures last week by 20-40%. The figures vary depending on the company. A large portion of the drop in sales was for tours in Russia – at some companies in this segment it is as much as 40%. Tour operators believe that this is probably a short-term phenomenon that has more to do with the confusion with tourists’ departures from regions in southern Russia,” ATOR said.
The steepest drop has been in sales of trips in the next few weeks in March. Early bookings for summer holidays at resorts in Krasnodar Territory and Crimea declined far less, by only 10-20%, ATOR said.
“Tourists, as we see, believe that the crisis will be resolved by the end of spring. The drop in this segment is smaller than for earlier dates,” the association said.
Sales of vacations abroad also saw a smaller decline, of 15-20%, and also primarily for the coming weeks.
“Some tourists who planned to buy tours for upcoming dates prefer to hold off on booking. But requests continue to come in for the summer, including quite expensive ones. The decline here is not very noticeable. As always, it is the luxury segment that is the most stable,” ATOR said.
Travel agencies and tour operators said they are getting many questions from tourists about the possible size of penalties for trip cancellations, but there are few actual cancellations so far, partly because cancellation terms for upcoming dates usually stipulate penalties. There are also tourists asking about possible travel discounts being offered in connection with the crisis.
Taxi calling services Bolt and Uklon continue to work.
The Uber service has stopped working in Ukraine, the company said in its app.
“Uber rides are not available in this region at this time,” a message to passengers in Kyiv reads.
In Lviv, the application shows that there are no trips available.
In Kharkiv and Odesa, a message is also displayed stating that trips in the region are not available.
“Due to the growth of geopolitical tensions and recent events, we have decided to suspend the operation of the application. The safety of all application users is our top priority. We continue to monitor the circumstances and hope that this is a temporary situation,” the company said.
Uber has been operating in Ukraine since 2016 and is present in nine cities.
Mobile operators and Ukrtelecom agree to provide communication to Ukrainians, even if there are no funds on their accounts.
“We are doing everything possible to keep everyone in touch even with a zero balance,” the press service of Vodafone Ukraine said in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine.
Ukrtelecom reported that the decision not to disconnect subscribers for non-payment, as well as subscribers with a zero balance from the provision of services, was made by the operator this morning.
“Now we have more than 50,000 Internet service clients in dynamics, who could be affected by disconnection for non-payment. But we decided not to disconnect our subscribers,” Mykhailo Shuranov, director of corporate communications at Ukrtelecom, told the agency.
The lifecell press service also stated that they are ready to support their subscribers.
“In order for our subscribers to be able to contact their relatives and friends at any time, lifecell charges all its users a package of services at no additional charge. It contains 30 minutes for calls to any number in Ukraine and 5 GB of mobile internet. It can be used for 30 days,” the operator’s press service told the agency.
Therefore, the priority of lifecell is the continuity in the provision of mobile services.
As of 13:35 Thursday, the operator’s mobile network is operating normally. However, the operator warns that in conditions where millions of people simultaneously make calls, from time to time the connection may not occur the first time.
Kyivstar reported that calls in the operator’s network will be available to all subscribers of the subscription even without a paid package of services according to their tariff.
Kyivstar also abolishes the commission within the Extra Money service, thanks to which you can order additional funds to your account and return them later.
For subscribers of contract and corporate forms of service: the operator doubles the credit limits in their tariffs for up to two months. Subscribers who do not have the service of credit limits connected can order microcredit. For users of fixed services (Internet, telephony and data transmission), Kyivstar extends the bill payment term by 30 days.
In addition, Kyivstar will provide the Home Internet service free of charge: all customers whose service was disabled due to lack of funds on their account can use it again.
As previously reported, the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks of the State Service for Special Communications addressed operators with a recommendation not to disconnect from mobile communications and access to the Internet subscribers who do not have enough funds on their account or have a debt.
EuroChem Group has completed the acquisition of the Serra do Salitre phosphate project in Brazil, the company said in a press release.
EuroChem officially takes over the advanced-stage mine and plant in Minas Gerais as of February 22.
The complex comprises an open-pit phosphate mine with over 350 million metric tons (MMT) of reserves and a plant with production capacity of 1 MMT of fertilizers per year.
The deal was valued at $452 million, and EuroChem will invest a similar amount to fully implement the project. Fertilizer production is expected to launch in 2024 and reach full capacity in 2025. The mine and processing plant are currently in operation and produce about 500 KMT of phosphate rock.
The project incorporates a sulfuric acid plant, a phosphoric acid plant, and a storage facility for granular fertilizers, including urea and potassium chloride, among other products.
“The acquisition delivers upon the Group’s growth strategy in South America, one of the world’s most important crop-growing regions, and consolidates EuroChem’s position as a global leader in fertilizers,” the company said.
The Milk Alliance group of companies producing dairy products under the Yahotynske brand continues to work as usual, co-owner of the holding Oleksandr Derkach wrote on the holding’s Facebook page.
“Milk Alliance works for you. Normally. Even today. Yahotynske is and will be on the shelves. Me, my friends in life and business partners, are in Kyiv. I’m sick at heart. Worrying. But panic, it’s definitely not about us,” he wrote on the social network.
Milk Alliance was established in June 2006 as a holding company with a charter capital of UAH 23.5 million and a balance sheet of 99.9% consisting of long-term financial investments.
