Tourism Law in Europe

and knowledge transfer; and (3) implementation of research important for the development of the tourism industry. 4. Latvian Tourism Law The purpose of the Law is to create a legal basis for the development of the tourism industry in Latvia, determine the procedure by which public administration institutions, local governments and businesses operate in the field of tourism and protect the tourists’ interests. The Tourism Law defines the following sections in the recent amendments:  Tasks of the tourism industry;  Tourism policy;  Tourism services;  Protection and safety of tourists; and  Administrative violations in the field of provision of tourism services and competence in administrative violations (Cabinet of Ministers, 1998). On 19 October 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers approved this amendments, clarifying several definitions of tourism and amending Article 9. The Latvian Tourism Advisory Council is a consultative institution established by the Cabinet of Ministers, which aims to promote the development, implementation and evaluation of a coordinated tourism policy. The work of the Latvian Tourism Advisory Council has been renewed in order to combat the consequences of COVID-19 in tourism. (Latvijas Vēstnesis, 2020). 5. Conclusion Significant changes have been achieved in the tourism sector in Latvia in recent years: the obligatory licensing of tourism enterprises has been introduced; the new system of calculation of the amount of security for tour operators and related travel service providers; unified database of tour operators and travel agents, created and monitored by the Consumer Rights Protection Centre. However, the mechanism for supporting the tourism industry during the unforeseen circumstances has not been fully developed.