Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

706 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE accommodation establishments by non-residents (93% or 89.4 millions) 4 . In addition, in 2017, in terms of tourism intensity, Croatia ranked second, after Malta, according to the number of nights spent by residents and non-residents in tourist accommodation per inhabitant (20,7 night per inhabitant) 5 . In 2016, the Adriatic coast of Croatia, after the Canaries and Catalonia, ranked third in the EU among five most popular tourist regions in the EU, with the total of 74.2 million nights spent in tourist accommodation 6 . The importance of tourism for the economic development of Croatia has also resulted in a dynamic development of the legal regulation of Croatian tourism law. After its independence in 1991, Croatia has three times reformed its tourism law. Since 1996, three laws on tourist activities and services in tourism have been passed and in the meantime, they have often been amended 7 . The provision of services in tourism is governed by the Tourism Services Act (hereinafter: TSA) 8 which entered into force on 1 January 2018 and is considered to be the main legal source of tourism law in Croatia. It regulates the services in the sector of tourism, the manner and conditions for the provision of such services, package travel contracts and contracts on linked travel arrangements, as well as the rights and obligations of traders and travellers stemming from such contracts 9 . The TSA was harmonised with the Services Directive of 2006 10 and with the new Package Travel Directive of 2015 (hereinafter: PTD) 11,12 . However, the harmonisation with the European regulation of the package travel contract had taken place in Croatian law long before Croatia, in 2013, 4 See Tourism in the EU – Number of nights spent in the EU up by 2% in 2018, Eurostat – Newrelease, 17/2019 – 23 January 2019 published at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9516057/4- -23012019-AP-EN.pdf/336716b1-18e5-4250-a102-3b8102bac792 (web page visited: 5/7/2019). 5 See Tourism statistics, Eurostat, Data from December 2018 (note 2). 6 See Tourism statistics at regional level, Eurostat, Data extracted in March 2018 published at https://ec.europa . eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Tourism_statistics_at_regional_level (web page visited: 5/7/2019). 7 The first Act in the area of tourism – Tourism Act ( Zakon o turističkoj djelatnosti ) in the Independent State of Croatia was passed in 1996. It had been in force until 2007 when the Act on the Provision of Services in Tourism ( Zakon o pružanju usluga u turizmu ) was adopted. The Act of 2007 ceased to be effective on 1 January 2018 when the Tourism Services Act ( Zakon o pružanju usluga u turizmu ) entered into force. 8 The Tourism Services Act/TSA ( Zakon o pružanju usluga u turizmu ), Official Gazette ( Narodne novine ), nos 130/2017, 25/2019, 98/2020, 42/2020. 9 Art. 1 TSA. 10 Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market, OJ L 376, 27.12.2006, pp 36–68. 11 Directive (EU) 2015/2302 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on package travel and linked travel arrangements, amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 90/314/EEC, OJ L 326, 11.12.2015, pp. 1–33. 12 Art. 2 TSA.