Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

60 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE new times, on July 9, 2013, the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament on package travel and assisted travel services was approved, amending Regulation (EC) No. 2006/2004 and Directive 2011/83 / EU and repealing Directive 90/314 / EEC [COM (2013) 512 final, 2013/0246-COD]. The reform of the directive is the result of various consultations. In 2008, from a public consultation on its working paper of 2007, the Commission received more than 80 contributions from businesses, consumer organizations, lawyers, academics and 14 Member States. In October 2009 the Commission launched a second public consultation on the review of the package travel Directive (IP / 09/1824). The Commission organized a seminar for stakeholders on 22 April 2010 and a conference with the parties and the Member States on the revision of theDirective on package travel on 5 June 2012. On January 2013, the Commission met with consumer groups and industry business leaders to discuss the revision of the EU legislation in force regarding organized trips (MEMO / 13/42). According to the EuropeanCommission, the reformresponds to a fundamental transformation of the travel market: citizens are increasingly taking a more active role when organizing their vacations to their specific requirements, especially using the Internet to organize their trip instead of choosing package tours ready in a brochure. Current rules are difficult to apply in the Internet age, where consumers increasingly book their own travel packages online (either with a single operator or with several commercially related ones), so that consumers are unsure of their rights and operators are not sure of their obligations. That is, the reform wants to further strengthen consumer protection through greater transparency and protection if something goes wrong. Businesses also benefit from it, since the Commission will eliminate obsolete information requirements, such as the need to reprint the brochures, and will ensure that the protection schemes against insolvency will be internationally recognized. “Tourism is an important source of growth in our economy and currently represents some 1.8 million businesses and some 9.7 million jobs, in addition to employing a considerable percentage of our young people. If tourists feel safe when buying and using package travel services, for example by relying on the same provider to purchase a flight and hire a rental vehicle or its housing, the sector will grow further and faster. This is the main aim of today’s proposal: to support all package travel, purchased online or not, while ensuring a balanced set of rights for traveller” (Antonio Tajani, Vice President and Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry). The overall objective of the Directive is to improve the functioning of the internal market and to achieve a high level of consumer protection by