AEB invited the government to support the tourism industry of Belarus
23.03.2020

The Association of European Businesses sent an appeal to the Council of Ministers in which it proposed a number of measures aimed at supporting the tourism industry and the economy of Belarus as a whole.
The direction of this appeal is due to the concern of companies, members of the Association of European Businesses in the Republic of Belarus, about the current situation in the tourism services market in connection with the COVID-19 coronavirus infection pandemic.
Currently, the number of cases of refusal of tours abroad is increasing. This trend was not critical with the spread of the virus in the countries of Southeast Asia, but it threatens with serious losses due to the worsening epidemiological situation in Europe. Companies are forced to cancel all tours between March and June. There are also no applications for new tours.
A difficult situation is observed in inbound tourism. Due to the massive closure of borders and the introduction of quarantine measures in most states (the largest tourist flow falls on the Russian Federation, the Republic of Poland, the People's Republic of China), the number of tours sold to the Republic of Belarus tends to zero.
Due to the closure of the borders and the impossibility of carrying out direct flights between the Republic of Belarus and a number of Asian countries, travel companies are forced to evacuate tourist groups, implementing agreements with third-party airlines at their own expense.
As a result of the trends described above, travel agencies run the risk of incurring huge losses that can lead to bankruptcy.
In connection with the above, in order to support the tourism industry and the economy as a whole, the Association of European Businesses applies for:
Suspension or postponement of the period of payment of income tax, value added tax, taxes under the simplified taxation system and other taxes, payment of contributions to the Federal Tax Service;
Securing at the legislative level the possibility of travel agents returning money to consumers, after returning them from tour operators and airlines, and not within the 14-day period provided for by law;
Abolish bank commissions for travel agents for withdrawing funds to return to the consumer without loss;
Providing "vacation" for the payment of rental payments;
Concessional lending and other possible measures.
These measures will certainly help to stabilize the situation in the tourism industry and will help many companies survive these force majeure circumstances in the market.