OREANDA-NEWS. June 26, 2009. Antalya (Turkey) has hosted the 2nd meeting of the Russian-Turkish tourism workgroup operating under the auspices of the Russian-Turkish intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation. The company has been the only representative of insurance business in the Russian delegation, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

The Russian delegation headed by Mr. Alexander Radkov included Mr. Andrei Tyutyunnik, head of the Department of Analysis and Organization of Hotel and Tourism Operations of the RF Federal Tourism Agency, Mr. Mirjalol Husanov, RF Consul General in Antalya, and representatives of the Russian business community and universities.

The Turkish delegation headed by Ms. Chennai Basher, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Culture of the Republic of Turkey was represented by the heads of a number of departments of the Turkish Hotel Federation (TUROFED) and Tourism Investment Community (TYD).

The parties discussed a number of issues relating to the current state of affairs and prospects of the tourist exchange, mutual promotion of tourism products, interaction in air transportation, investments, simplified visa regime, and cooperation in preparing qualified personnel for the tourism industry.

The Workgroup members paid special attention to the issues of insurance and safety of the Russian tourists. ROSNO presented its own vision of the issues arising in course of interaction between, on the one hand, insurers and service companies arranging assistance to the clients in Turkey and, on the other hand, the Turkish clinics and air carriers.

As a result of this meeting, the parties agreed to establish two expert groups, which will be operating under the auspices of the Russian-Turkish Tourism Workgroup. They will include representatives of public associations and the business community. One of the expert groups will focus on security and insurance issues, while the other will specialize in marketing, transportation and education. Ms. Svetlana Schwab, Director of ROSNO’s Travellers’ Insurance Department, has been admitted to the expert group on security and insurance issues. This group will be developing solutions for such important issues as increasing the volume of insurance coverage for those who travel abroad, and implementing obligatory accident insurance coverage for tourists. Furthermore, the Group members will be working to improve the Russian-Turkish contractual and legal base governing relations between the Turkish clinics and service companies providing organization of, and payment for, the medical aid to the insurants on behalf and at the expense of the insurers.

"Turkey is one of the most popular foreign tourism destinations for Russians. In 2008, according to the statistics, this country was visited by over 2.8 million of our citizens, whereof 1.8 million people had been insured with ROSNO, and the number of insured accidents settled by our company exceeded 36 thousand. Further improvement of travellers’ insurance is directly related to providing possibilities for our countrymen to get high-quality and reasonably priced medical aid as well as their financial and legal protection. We hope that the cooperation between all parties involved in tourist relations will facilitate effective and prompt overcoming of the existing difficulties and will constitute a precedent of effective resolution of such issues in other tourism fields", noted Ms. Svetlana Schwab, Director of ROSNO’s Travellers’ Insurance Department.