Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

120 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE “where such services are advertised or sold under the term ‘package’ or under a similar term indicating a close connection between the travel services concerned. Such similar terms could be, for instance, ‘combined deal’, ‘allinclusive’ or ‘all-in arrangement” [ ibidem , Article 3/2/(b)/(iii)]. Recital 11 brings about two further possibilities for integration into the legal concept of package travel, with the first one tied to gift boxes : “It should be clarified that travel services combined after the conclusion of a contract by which a trader entitles a traveller to choose among a selection of different types of travel services, such as in the case of a package travel gift box, constitute a package.” [Article 3/2/ (b)/(iv)]; and the second one is linked to click-through packages : “a combination of travel services should be considered to be a package where the traveller’s name, payment details and e-mail address are transmitted between the traders and where another contract is concluded at the latest 24 hours after the booking of the first travel service is confirmed.” [Article 3/2/(b)/(v)]. 4.3. Definition (3) – Package Travel Contract The third definition states: “‘package travel contract’ means a contract on the package as a whole or, if the package is provided under separate contracts, all contracts covering travel services included in the package”. This definition fixes the principle that subdividing the tourist trip in various contracts does not jeopardise the unity of the travel contract. It must be noticed that, in the 1990 Directive, there was a general definition of contract (Definition 5): “‘contract’ means the agreement linking the consumer to the organiser and/or the retailer”. The expression “package travel contract” uses the word ‘travel’, but includes tourism. Again, as mentioned before, both the Italian text of the Directive and DecreeLaw No. 62 of 21 May 2018 read “contratto di pacchetto turistico”. We may distinguish two type of packages. Packages bought from a single professional and packages built by several and separated contracts. 4.4. Travel Service, Package and Package Travel Contract It may be noticed that the first three definitions are connected, in the effort to define any and all contractual relationships related to travel or, if you prefer, to tourist activity. In reality, ‘package travel contract’ is a broad definition for a tourist contract that includes any possible combination of the listed elements.