Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

834 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE this reference to the minimum percentage of 25% in Recital 18. Whether this service package is to be ultimately regarded as an “other tourist service” within the meaning of Art. 3 No. 1 lit d PTD (§ 651a III No 4 BGB), it must be decided by the courts and the ECJ 36 . 5. Insolvency of Thomas Cook a) Collapse of a giant (1) Second-largest tour operator . The collapse of Germany’s second-largest tour operator after TUI, at the end of September 2019, has shown that even one of the market leaders is not “too big to fail” and can seriously damage the entire system of insolvency protection. The Thomas Cook Group Germany was obliged to declare insolvency with its financial connections with the Thomas Cook Group London 37 . The Thomas Cook Group Germany is a tour operator and has, amongst others, the brands Neckermann Reisen, Öger Tours, Bucher Reisen and Air Marin. In 2018, the German group had approximately 22 million customers worldwide and employed 21.300 people. The company generated around 3.8 billion Euro in Germany. (2) Only one insurance . The insolvency insurance of Thomas Cook Germany with all subsidiaries is Zurich Versicherung. In contrast to the other EU Member States, Germany has a low level of insolvency insurance for tour operators with a moderate maximum liability level. An insurance company or a bank only has to cover potential total losses of € 110 million from all the tour operators that it insures. If the maximum amount is exceeded, the insurance company can proportionally reduce the amount of reimbursement in a quota. The total losses for customers caused by Thomas Cook’s insolvency could reach 400 million Euro 38 . b) Insolvency protection in the Directive Meanwhile, the German tourism industry, insurance companies, politicians, consumer rights organisations and experts in travel law are now intensively discussing how the German insolvency protection in § 651r BGB should be reformed to prevent similar cases in the future. § 651r BGB implements Art. 17 PTD in German law. The Directive says that Member States must ensure that 36 Führich/Staudinger, Reiserecht, § 5 Rn 8, § 27 Rn. 19, § 28 Rn. 4; Führich, NJW 2018, 2926, 2928. 37 FVW of 26 September 2019. 38 FVW International of 31 October 2019.