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Exact amount of Russian tourists stuck in Mexico is not yet clear. According to experts, around 20 Russian citizens are in questions. As Mexican operators told BANKO reporter, natural disaster affected several Cancun hotels, in particular Melia and Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach. As a result, clients were left without electricity and communication. Because of that decision was made to evacuate them to hotels of Merida (including Fiesta Americana Merida), a city in the heart of the country, on October 18–19. ‘As evacuation was conducted in undertime, holiday-makers couldn’t even take their luggage with them, and so they locked their bags in bathrooms to save them from robbers,’ tells Grigoriy Uryvsky, specialist of Latin American department, ‘Smart Travel’.
At the moment travel companies are trying to return their clients to Moscow, but this does not seem to be possible. Cancun airport is damaged by tornado and is temporarily out of service, and it is a problem to fly from other terminals, for example, in Mexico. According to destination experts, 50 thousand tourists from the entire globe suffered from disaster on the whole. At the moment they are returning home, and airways’ flights are overloaded. ‘Our partner in Mexico is trying to distract tourists, providing them with additional excursions in Merida. But this will hardly help, for people want to return home,’ says Alexander Bessudnov, ‘PAC Group’ department head. For the time being only Lufthansa is ready to provide transfer for Russians, but nearest flights to Russia will take place only on October 30 and 31. A lot of tourists had to depart on October 20, so their visas' validity period is over. Besides, as destination players told BANKO Information Service reporters, many accepting companies agreed to pay only for one night for tourists evacuated to other hotels. Financial question of the rest of accommodation time is still open.
Meanwhile we didn’t manage to get comments from Russian Foreign Ministry or Russian Consulate in Mexico. No one answers the phone in the diplomatic mission’s office, and the Ministry offered to send request via fax. By the time of this News issue BANKO IS has not got answer to this letter yet. Look for details in the next News issues.
