Companies responsible for the fact that Ukrainian tourists could not fly out of time in a number of countries should be punished accordingly, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said.
"We need not only to sanitize the consequences of such disgraces, but, finally, to pay attention to the causes of the problem. The companies that caused the tourist collapse should answer for this. A thorough and comprehensive audit should find out why they do not comply with license conditions, and whether or not they can be abided by at all... Unfortunately, there is reason to doubt that some of them cannot comply with them at all and, in the pursuit of profit, assumed obviously unbearable obligations," Klimkin said on his Facebook page on 2 July.
Klimkin expressed regret over the spoiled vacations of stranded Ukrainians.
"Ukrainian diplomats do and will do everything to ease their situation. I hope other agencies will make their contribution to resolving the crisis that has arisen," he said.
The diplomat said that on 22 May the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry held a special meeting with representatives of other involved organizations on the possible risks.
"The participants complained about the lack of authority, first of all, the authority to check whether the airlines and tour operators comply with the terms of the licenses," Klimkin said.
As earlier reported, for several days hundreds of Ukrainian tourists could not fly from Tunisia to Ukraine. Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said on Facebook that the current situation is due to the significant debt owed by the Oasis travel agent to Bravo airline.