Tourism Law in Europe

10 established. Since these services includes some sort of subscription, it is not always accessible for foreign tourists. 6.6. Taxi To conduct taxi business requires an authorisation according to the Act on Taxi Business 16 . Taxi business is defined as traffic conducted as a business which offers a car and driver to the public for the transport of passengers. If a taxi authorisation is granted to a company, each driver must have a taxi license. To acquire a taxi license, you must pass a test. Authorisation for taxi business as well as the issuing of taxi licenses are handled by the Swedish Transport Agency. 7. Tour Operators and Travel Agents The Package Travel Directive 17 has been implemented in Sweden by the Act on Package Travel 18 and, as regards travel guarantees, the Act on Travel Guarantees 19 . The Package Travel Act includes among other definitions, definitions on organiser and retailer. 7.1. Tour operators Since Sweden, besides two or three months during the summer, is quite a cold country, the Swedes historically has had a thing for trips to warm countries, Thailand and the Canaries being the most popular destinations. There are thus many tour operators focusing on outbound travel, both large companies such as, Thomas Cook, TUI and Kuoni, and small tour operators, often focused on a specific region or a certain activity, such as golf, skiing etc. There are also a wide range of Swedish companies focusing on incoming tourism. A huge deal of those is SME’s, often family-owned businesses. 16 Taxitrafiklag (2012:211). 17 Directive (EU) 2015/2302 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on package travel and linked travel arrangements, amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 90/314/EEC. 18 Paketreselag (2018:1217). 19 Resegarantilag (1972:204).