Roman vacations

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   An almost detective story took place this week during an advertsing tour in Italy, organized by ‘PAC Group’. Two participants of the trip, officially representing Moscow agency "TST-holding" and "Green stone KM", on the second day of the journey refused not only to see hotels, but also to follow the route. They announced to the leader of the group that they are holiday-makers, who bought the tour which was sold as a usual tourist tour, only with a large discount. According to ‘Pac group’, agencies were saying there was a misunderstanding and the women have been really working as managers in their companeis for several years. This version was also confirmed to a BANKO correspondent by the agencies.
    However, later new details of the story of the unlucky advertiser emerged. Operator’s representatives said that in a non-officila telephone conversation partners alledgedly admitted that Marina and Alla who went on a trip to Italy are in fact relatives of the staff of agencies. ‘Tourists’ were warned they are going on an advertsing tour and Marina had a work book registered in ‘TST Holding’ with the only article dated 7 January 1998 (this document was faxed to the tour organisers).
    In the end, the situation started looked evn more complicated. Why did their ‘staff’ decide to stay in Rome, ignoring the route of the trip, the agencies cannot explain it as they still fail to get in touch with runaways. ‘At the moment we have to justify the actions as our business reputation was damaged but the agency limited themselves to spoken explanations’, says Maria Malyisheva, head of the advertsing department of ‘PAC Group’. Nevertheless, in a conversation to a BANKO correspondent, representatives of agencies confirmed that they are ready to discuss compensation for inexplicable behaviour of their ambassadresses.
   FAM Trips (FAMiliarisation Trips) which are based on trust to permanent partners among agencies can often end up in situations like that, say on-viewers. According to experts, no one can be 100% insured against them, even if they thoroughly check all members of the staff. To minimize such risks, it would not hurt to have a "blacklist" of agencies, which should not only contain a name of people and companies, but also the description of concrete situation which got them into the list, belive experts, interviewed by a BANKO correspondent.