81 travelers from Spain arrived home on Monday, while some more left Warsaw on Monday and will arrive home on Tuesday. In total, three groups of travelers, or 147 Latvians, will be repatriated. Both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consumer Rights Protection Center have been involved in the situation.
The repatriation was due to Fisom's failure to meet its obligations. The organizers of the camp had disappeared and the children were left abroad. The young people had to spend the night on the streets and the main person responsible for the trip, Matīss Dālbergs, the owner of Fisom, could not be contacted. Some of the parents are promising to claim compensation for the service they did not receive.
The company has already had its tour operator license revoked by the Consumer Rights Protection Centre and no further trips will take place.
The Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Economics, Jurģis Miezainis, told Latvian Radio that a number of problems have already been identified and promised to review the licensing procedure for tourism service providers.
"This has been such a hard lesson. And probably the big thing is that there really should not be situations where children are put at risk because of the irresponsibility of adults. We have already identified a couple of things in this process that need to be improved in terms of licensing and in terms of supervision. Supervision fees will also need to be reviewed," Miezainis noted.
Although Fisom promised several days ago to provide further clarification, there is none yet. Meanwhile, the State Police has already launched an inquiry into the tour operator Fisom.
