Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

A s the Dean of the University of Calabria (UNICAL), it is an honour to co-present this book on theDirective 2015/2302 / (EU), of 25November, Collective Commentary about The New Package Travel Directive . With the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty of 13 December 2007, the tourism sector has also found explicit recognition at the level of primary law. Article 195, paragraph 1, of the Treaty on European Union (TFEU), establishes that “the Union is the action of the Member States in the tourism sector, particularly by promoting the competitiveness of EU businesses in one sector”. This, as a consequence, meant for the European legislator the need to set as a specific aim that of: “ encouraging an incentive environment to the development of companies in the sector ” and “ supporting cooperation between Member States, particularly through the exchange of best practices ”, in fact, for this purpose, paragraph 2 of Art. 195 TFEU gives the European Parliament and the Council the power to approve ‘ specific ’ measures. In this context, the reasons (highlighted with the Commission’s communication of 30/06/2010) of an intervention aimed at modernizing the regulations on travel packages and, particularly, at overcoming the gaps in the implementation of Directive 90/314/EEC Council, on travel, vacations and all- -inclusive tours. Although this directive already established a significant protection for buyers of traditional ‘pre-packaged travel packages’ , it is clear that the same is not appropriate to new online sales methods and does not regulate the offer of ‘ customized packages ’ or ‘ connected tourist services ’ (purchase of flight tickets and hotels bought simultaneously, but offered by different operators). In other words, the existing legislation is no longer adequate to the changes ‘ in the digital age ’, for both the new sales methods and the changes in the consumers’ behaviour regarding new combinations of tourist services, which involve a ‘ legal fragmentation ’ against the improvement of the internal tourism market. Consequently, it becomes increasingly difficult (especially for small businesses) to offer tourist services in a country other than the one of establishment. The imperative value of European legislation, expressed by Art. 4 of the Directive on the level of harmonization, makes it possible to consider the