Christian Tour, the largest tour operator in Romania, wants to sue the National Authority for Tourism (ANT) and ask for damages of EUR 1 million for affecting its image after ANT had included several Christian Tour offices on the list of tourism agencies whose operating licenses have been removed.

Marius Pandel, Christian Tour CEO, said that ANT has put on that list nine Christian Tour offices in Deva, Oradea, and Bucharest’s District 1 that had been closed and relocated a few years ago.

“It’s not possible for an authority to send an information in the market that creates panic and affects the image of some tour operators,” he said, reports local Wall-street.ro.

This week ANT has withdrawn or cancelled the operating licenses of 1,300 travel agencies that didn’t have insurance policies anymore. A travel agency can legally operate if it has a valid insurance policy, among other requests. About 1,700 tourism agencies are now still licensed.

The Christian Tour CEO also said that the company wants to withdraw from the National Association of Tourism Agencies because it doesn’t represent their interests anymore.

Christian Tour is one of the biggest travel agencies in Romania, with a turnover of over EUR 55 million in 2015.

editor@romania-insider.com