Hoteliers and tour operators are forced to become whistleblowers

The government requires tour operators to report to the State Police each customer who has purchased a package tour to third countries. Hoteliers, on the other hand, need to make sure that those who use their hotel for self-isolation follow all requirements.

By allowing flights from Latvia to third countries, the government approved the procedure to be followed when a person returns from a non-essential trip from third countries. Namely, upon returning to Latvia, a person has to perform a Covid-19 test immediately at the nearest available testing point. If this is not possible, the person must immediately go to the tourist accommodation from the list of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) and remain there in self-isolation until the test is performed. If the test is negative, the person can go to their home to self-isolate. If the test is positive or if the person does not take the test at all, the person must mark this information on covidpass.lv and immediately go to self-isolation (or continue isolation) in a tourist accommodation from the list of tourist accommodations administered by LIAA and inform the tourist accommodation about their status. This is to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The costs of the test, transport, accommodation and meals at the tourist accommodation must be borne by the tourist.

In turn, from the tourism service providers, the government requires to provide transport to the tourist accommodation if the traveler's test is positive on return. The tourism service provider is also obliged to inform the State Police about all persons who have purchased tourism services to third countries, no matter if it is through the airports of Riga or other countries, and to enter the data of all travelers in the information system on the website covidpass.lv. Meanwhile, the tourist accommodation is obliged to inform the State Police about the person not staying overnight or leaving the tourist accommodation for a long time during the isolation period.

Latvia stands out

Leonīds Močeņovs, the head of the tour operator Novatours, emphasizes to Neatkarīgā that Novatours is aware of these new requirements, but there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment.

"Customer safety has always been our number one priority, so we will definitely follow everything required and necessary. However, before introducing specific procedures or commenting in more detail, we need to understand a number of technical nuances, about which we are currently waiting for clarification from the responsible state authorities,” says Leonīds Močeņovs.

Commenting on the government's requirement for tour operators to inform the State Police about customers who have purchased trips to third countries, Tez Tour emphasized to Neatkarīgā that there is no such a requirement in the other Baltic States, only in Latvia. "But so far, we have not received information on how this will be implemented in practice," Marina Batkiļina, spokeswoman for Tez Tour, told Neatkarīgā.

In hotels, self-isolation requirements are rarely violated

Santa Graikste, Executive Director of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Latvia, explains to Neatkarīgā that the requirement in the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers regarding the obligation of tourist accommodation establishments to inform the State Police about guests not staying or leaving for a long time is nothing new. "Accommodations who are the participants of the state support program pay special attention to the movement of guests, because people who are infected are not allowed to leave their room at all. Other accommodations that do not participate in the program, but know that a person is infected with Covid-19, is a contact person or is a person who is spending 10 days in self-isolation at the hotel (for example, returning from a business trip outside Latvia) do the same. The legislation stipulates that violations of self-isolation are subject to administrative penalties and disciplines," said Santa Graikste.

At the same time, workers of the hotel industry recognize that these requirements provide additional resources, such as security guards.

The interviewed hotel representatives admit that, in general, guests follow the internal and self-isolation rules, and cases when it is necessary to call additional help - the police - are very rare.

According to S. Graikste, increased control of guests who may be infected, contact persons or self-isolating is also a practice in other countries.

Tez Tour is waiting for the state of emergency to end

Although flights to third countries are allowed, Tez Tour has no plans to resume flights to them until the end of the state of emergency.

"Currently, at a time when the state of emergency is still on-going in the country, strict rules for safe travel to third countries have been adopted by the Latvian government and the Foreign Ministry's recommendation is to refrain completely from non-essential trips abroad - to be responsible when assessing their necessity. Tourist safety - it must not be endangered under any circumstances. That is our unequivocal and firm position on this issue. Even now, when it is formally possible to organize flights to several tourist destinations, we are clearly aware of all the possible risks associated with travel and their possible consequences, because the spread of Covid-19 virus in Latvia and the European Union is still a threat to society,” emphasizes Konstantīns Paļgovs, head of Tez Tour Latvija.

He also notes that

Tez Tour is fully ready for the 2021 summer season and anticipates high demand for long-awaited and constantly delayed trips - in all outbound and inbound tourist destinations.

"The long-awaited return of the entire tourism industry to its usual professional rhythm is likely to begin in April and May this year, but this process will be gradual to satisfy all customer needs and provide travelers with the highest safety and comfort conditions," predicts K. Paļgovs.

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