In Egypt alone, some 20,000 Ukrainians were stuck, many of whom wondered if there was even a home left to return to.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are stuck around the world in tourist destinations where they were on holiday as Russia invaded Ukraine. Russian tourists have also been in trouble when their flights have been canceled due to flight bans on Russian planes.
An estimated 150,000 Russian and Ukrainian tourists are awaiting their return due to hostilities.
Many Ukrainian and Russian payment cards have not worked due to sanctions against Russia, among other things. Authorities have reminded that for most insurance companies, the war is the so-called. force majeure, so the costs incurred are not covered by travel insurance.
In Egypt alone, there were an estimated 20,000 Ukrainian tourists at the start of the war. According to Egyptian authorities, they were mainly in the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, as well as in Marsa Allam.
The stranded Ukrainian tourists had been accommodated in three-star hotels at the expense of the Egyptian tourism authority while they waited for access to somewhere in Europe. Over the weekend, Egyptian authorities said they had flown about 4,000 Ukrainians to Ukraine’s neighboring countries.
Last year alone, about 1.4 million Ukrainians were on holiday in Egypt.
Tearful appeal in the Dominican Republic
In the Dominican Republic, there were also nearly 15,000 Russian and a couple of thousand Ukrainian tourists stuck in the Caribbean.
Honorary Consul of Ukraine Ilona Oleksandrivna last week, he appealed with tears to the authorities of the Dominican Republic to help the Ukrainians. According to Oleksandrivna, more than a thousand Ukrainians have fallen into the sky from their hotels when they have not been able to pay their bills.
Since then, the President of the Dominican Republic Luis Abinader promised that Ukrainians would not be forced out of their hotels. Authorities also promised to find out how to get the trapped out of the country.
More than 180,000 Russians and more than 80,000 Ukrainians visit the Dominican Republic every year.
According to Deutche Welle (switching to another service) also in East Africa, there were about a thousand Ukrainians waiting to leave in Zanzibar. Minister of Tourism of Zanzibar Lela Mohamed Mussan according to Ukrainians are waiting in their hotels and some of them are receiving humanitarian aid.
There are also stranded tourists in Turkey and Greece, for example.
Russia’s national airline Aeroflot has sent planes to pick up Russian tourists from around the world. Among other things, Russians were picked up from the Maldives over the weekend, the news agency Itar-Tass reported.
In Thailand, on the other hand (switch to another service)hotels have stopped accepting Russian debit cards. Many bank cards have not worked to pay or withdraw money from vending machines since anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Western countries came into force.
Ukrainians have also had difficulties with payment transactions, according to Thai media.