Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

962 COLLECTIVE COMMENTARY ABOUT THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE 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” has been introduced on 25 November 2015 (the EU Parliament and the Council of the EU, 2015). The new Directive relates to all tourism service providers in Europe, including Latvia. 2. THE COURSE OF THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS RELATED TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DIRECTIVE 2015/2302 IN LATVIA The whole process of implementation of the new Directive took about two and a half years to come into force. The implementation’s main stages can be described as follows: – Amendments to the Latvian Tourism Law: the new definition for complex tourism service; new tourism service – related tourism service (01.01.2018); – Regulations on the Procedures for the Preparation and Delivery of Package and Related Tourism Services and the Rights and Obligations of Package and Related Tourism Service Providers and Travelers (01.07.2018); – Tour operators and travel agents’ database, created and monitored by the Consumer Rights Protection Centre; – The obligatory licensing of Tourism service providers (transitional period from 01.07.2018 to 30.06.2019). The government approved amendments to the Latvian Tourism Law in mid- -September 2017 (effective 1 st January 2018). Hoping for significant changes for companies operating in the tourism sector, they introduced a new money security model for customers, which required travel agencies and tour operators to obtain special licences. Regarding the repatriation of potential travellers, there will be an annual state fee. The Consumer Rights and Protection Centre will exercise tighter control and monitoring functions, even with the suspension of the operating license of unscrupulous businesses (Latvian Tourism Law, 2018). The new Directive assumes higher security guarantees for the travellers, as it foresees Latvia’s responsibility as the state’s responsibility in implementing a model that will provide full consumer protection in the event of insolvency of a tour operator. The old model did not work out, as according to the insurance company data provided earlier, in 2017, only about 60 tour operators registered in Latvia have