Some 1,000 Russians who had booked bus tours to France for the coming holiday season may not be able to travel because of a backlog of visa applications at the French Embassy, a tourism industry spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“It’s a terrible situation,” said Irina Tyurmina, spokeswoman for the Russian Tourism Industry Union. “And no one is sure if they will get their money back,” she added, explaining that it was up to the individual tour operators to offer alternatives and refunds.

“We have counted around 1,000 people who cannot travel, but we are sure the total is much higher because we have not managed to contact all our affiliated tour agencies,” Tyurmina said.

A French Embassy spokeswoman said the consular office did not have enough staff to process the backlog in time for people to travel before Christmas.

“We have received double the usual number of visa applications this year, so we have stopped accepting new applications,” French Embassy spokeswoman Isabelle Pourancheau said Wednesday, adding that around 4,500 applications in total had been submitted.

Only Russians who have booked tickets on European bus tours over the Christmas and New Year holiday period are affected, the embassy said.

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