Russian tourists left on the streets

Just one day before the internationally celebrated Tourism Day, Russian holiday-makers found themselves in a nightmare situation as they arrived in Turkey expecting to enjoy a vacation. On September 24, arriving at a hotel in Anatalya the Russian tourists were told to leave. Over 70 visitors to Turkey spent three days living on the streets and beating down the doors of Turkish bureaucratic offices, after being informed by the hotel management – of the place they were supposed to be staying at – that their hotel rooms had not been paid for by the travel agency AzTur. The hotel demanded $30,000 should the tourists want to stay in their rooms. The second nightmare happened on Sunday morning when a bus did not come to pick up the tourists to take them to the airport, alerting them to the fact that there were no return tickets booked for the group. The agency had not paid for the return airfares. The travel agency AzTur we can reveal sent the group of tourists to Turkey, then immediately declared bankruptcy. The offices in Moscow were found closed and no representatives could be found. Five tourists tried to return to Moscow by buying tickets at Antalya airport but were not allowed to leave the country. A spokesman for the Russian consulate in Antalya persuaded the hotel to let the tourists stay for one night. The group returned home on Monday. Â