Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

792 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE one type of travel service themselves and are otherwise not classified as tour operators in their own area of business. With dynamic cross selling, the most problematic issue is the provision of a security in cases where travel packages are sold through random shopping carts and consist of travel services from two different traders. On the other hand, the trader deemed to be a tour operator is required to provide a security if consumers pay the price of the package in advance, even if he does not have any possibility of pre-estimating the volume of the sold packages. In practice, dynamic cross selling of travel services seems to be incompatible with the legal obligation to lodge a security and register with the FCCA. c. Case: Social holiday/package travel products 5 Social holiday activities are intended for people who would otherwise be unable to take a vacation due to low income, lack of resources or for health-related issues. There are several organizations in Finland offering social holidays and the participation is usually restricted to the members of the organizing society. One of these societies is Maaseudun Terveys-ja Lomahuolto ry (MTLH) which I shall use as an example. MTLH procures holiday services from domestic service providers through competitive tendering in accordance with the Procurement Act and offers these holiday services to its target groups at a EUR 20 per day liability. Passengers can seek holidays on social, health and economic grounds. The holiday includes full board accommodation and a holiday program. Transportation to the destination is the responsibility of the passenger. In my opinion, MTLH enters into contracts with holiday providers for the purchase of travel services that can be considered as general contracts within the meaning of the law. However, this is not a business travel contract because the purpose of the contract is to allow the applicant for a holiday subsidy to go on holiday and there are no business elements involved in the trip. As is the case with general business travel contracts, the contract or contracts made by MTLH give access to travel services to persons belonging to a limited group. In addition, passengers have limited choice of holiday destinations and length of stay, and an application is required and must be accepted before they can reserve transportation required. The nature of subsidized holiday services is thus clearly different from traditional holiday arrangements which are designed and executed by travellers themselves. 5 This chapter is based on the statement given by the FCCA on 11.5.2018.