International tour operators' responsibility guarantees in developing legislation in the Russian Federation

• The legal guarantees of international tour operators
• The legal basis for amending the legislative initiative on tourism
• The excessive increase of tour operators' responsibilities may decrease the number of tour operators

The authors analyze the features of the existing legal guarantees of the international tour operators, such as financial provision and a compensation fund for urgent tourist support. Legal practice shows that these guarantees may not be sufficient in the event of large-scale suspensions of tour operators' activities, and the problems with the return of tourists to their home countries may arise as a result. Because of these facts, the legislator amended the fundamentals of the legislation on tourism to increase responsibility of tourist market participants and to improve legal protection of tourists going abroad from the Russian Federation. The authors analyze the amendments and conclude that the excessive increase of tour operators' responsibility may considerably decrease the number of tour operators in the tourist services market.