Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

206 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE 3. HARMONISED SUBSTANTIVE LAW ON PACKAGE TRAVEL IN THE EU. APPROACH TO THE LEVEL OF HARMONISATION 3.1. Directive on package travel, package holidays and package tours (Directive 90/314/EEC, of the Council, of 13 June 1990). Basic harmonisation Before considering the current directive, we must analyse the previous situation. The industrial and technological development in the last years of the twentieth century, that has given rise to what has come to be known as consumer society, has also significantly facilitated the growth of the tourism sector, mainly due to the greater access to jobs and to the increase of the economic level that allows more days of leisure, and to the significant improvement of means of transport that allows to reduce travel times between cities that are many kilometres apart. The possibility of travels that were unthinkable at the beginning of the twentieth century is now a possible, available and attractive offer. This determines the appearance of a high number of organisers and retailers offering all kinds of travels that must be regulated so that the expectations and hopes put by consumers or users on their vacation or leisure days are not dashed. The European Union was not unaware of the problems raised by this situation, so in the Commission communication to the Council on A New Impetus for Consumer Protection Policy , which was approved by resolution of the Council on 6 May 1986, lists in paragraph 37, among the measures proposed by the Commission, the harmonisation of legislations on package travels that were later stated in Directive 90/314/EEC. It must be taken into account the high relevance of the tourism sector in the countries of the European Union. Many millions of European citizens travel from one Member State to another for their holidays, so it is necessary and appropriate to remove the barriers to the free movement of services between the operators established in the European Union. The economic significance of the tourism internal market undoubtedly imposed an efficient regulation for the members of the tourism sector that protected both consumers and users. The European Union, when considering the policy of consumer protection, decided the need to issue a directive on package travel, package holidays and package tours (Directive 90/314/EEC, of the Council, of 13 June 1990) because the tourism sector is a key aspect of the internal market and because the legislations of the Member States are very different so that they create barriers to the freedom to provide services regarding package travel