Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

818 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE (a) on the occasion of a single visit or contact with his point of sale, the separate selection and separate payment of each travel service by travellers; or (b) in a targeted manner, the procurement of at least one additional travel service from another trader where a contract with such other trader is concluded at the latest 24 hours after the confirmation of the booking of the first travel service. Where not more than one type of travel service as referred to in point (a), (b) or (c) of point 1 and one or more tourist services as referred to in point (d) of point 1 are purchased, they do not constitute a linked travel arrangement if the latter services do not account for a significant proportion of the combined value of the services and are not advertised as, and do not otherwise represent, an essential feature of the trip or holiday. Despite its definition, the concept of linked travel arrangements is quite vague. This will certainly give rise to uncertainty and confusion for the professionals working in the travel industry. In particular, issues would certainly be raised when some travel services (accommodation, transport, car rental) will be combined with other travel services (as laid down in Article 3 (1) (d) of the Directive): sometimes this will be considered as a package and sometimes as a linked travel arrangement. The manner the combination is offered will determine the applicable regime, however, this will be subject to the court’s interpretation in case of dispute. Further, while the offer and sale of a travel package is subject to numerous obligations to be fulfilled by the organiser, as mentioned hereinabove (obligation of information, obligation of remedy, obligation to reduce the price and/or to compensate in case of lack of conformity, etc.), the offer and sale of linked travel arrangements gives professionals (i.e. the traders facilitating the LTA, as defined by the directive) only two types of obligations: – Obligation to provide a security; and – Obligation to inform the traveller about the extent of protection. Nevertheless, if the trader fails to comply with any of the two above obligations, the sanction set out in the directive should prove to be quite a deterrent. To the trader will be applied most of the rules normally applicable in case of a package and in particular: – Right for the traveller to transfer the contract to another traveller (as laid down in Article 9);