Travel Agency Shuts Down

By The Moscow Times

Feb. 29, 2012

Tour company Lanta-Tur Voyage ceased operations Tuesday amid questions over whether customers would receive refunds for trips they paid for but could not take.

About 3,000 tourists were temporarily stranded in countries around the world last month after the company announced it was broke. Investigators later said the company's management was suspected of holding back payments for hotels and flights and pocketing the money. The company renewed operations on Feb. 7 after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered VTB to help the firm. The bank agreed to lend Lanta-Tur Voyage $7 million.

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that the 100 million rubles ($3.45 million) in guarantees the company had with insurance company Ingosstrakh would not be enough to cover losses sustained by clients, Interfax reported.

(MT)

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