On July 11, the Verkhovna Rada amended the 1995 Ukrainian law "On Tourism." If the law is signed by the President of Ukraine, it will come into force on January 1, 2004, according to Interfax-Ukraine. As the head of the State Tourism Administration of Ukraine, Valery Tsybukh, noted at a press conference, the main task of this law is to adapt Ukraine's tourism legislation to world and European standards. Under the new law, tour operators are legal entities whose exclusive activity is organizing and ensuring the creation of a tourism product, selling and providing tourist services, as well as intermediary activities for providing characteristic and related services. Travel agents differ from tour operators in that they perform only intermediary activities and can act only on behalf of a tour operator. Only tour operators will be able to apply to foreign embassies for documents for clients traveling abroad.
According to Valery Tsybukh, the division into tour operators and travel agents exists worldwide. For example, in Japan, out of more than 11,000 firms providing tourist services, there are only 210 tour operators. "This provision (the division into tour operators and travel agents - IF) is also present in the documents of the WTO, which Ukraine seeks to join, and in the documents of the World Tourism Organization," said the head of the tourism administration.
Thus, Interfax-Ukraine further reports, those Ukrainian firms that already have licenses will need to decide what type of activity they intend to engage in and receive new licenses free of charge. New firms will be issued licenses taking into account qualification, professional and technical requirements for carrying out tourist activities. "When preparing this law, we also wanted to bring numerous travel companies out of the shadows. We have 5,300 entities of tourist activity that have received licenses, but 96% of budget revenues from this sphere are provided by 100 companies," added Valery Tsybukh.
The new law provides for ensuring the material liability of tour operators and travel agents to clients. As the deputy head of the State Tourism Administration, Anatoly Matvienko, noted at a press conference, such guarantees will be provided in the form of cash accounts in banks or other credit institutions. For tour operators, the account amount must be at least 20 thousand euros, and for travel agents - at least 2 thousand euros. "The law is aimed at a clear division of rights and responsibilities of clients and firms, at protecting these rights," emphasized Anatoly Matvienko.