The Legal Impacts of COVID-19 in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

1 The COVID-19 Epidemic and the Impact on Tourism Contracts According to Italian Law Chiara Tincani 1. The Italian strategy to contain the epidemic; 2. EU and Italian regulations on tourist packages; 3. Transport contracts; 4. Service providers other than the carrier; 5. The travel intermediary. 1. The Italian strategy to contain the epidemic It would be superfluous to underline, here, how serious the situation in Italy is, due to the expansive virulence of the epidemic, which has dramatically affected many regions, including Emilia-Romagna, where the article’s author lives. Administrative and regulatory interventions aimed at curtailing the infection, with the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, were coupled with increasingly severe restrictions in conjunction with the worsening of public health conditions. Inevitably the tourism sector was among the ones affected alongside all the connected businesses including restaurants, travel organization, planning of air flights or other transports, hotels and the whole accommodation industry. The President of the Council of Ministers, on Decree of 8 March 2020, addressed the first stage of the emergency, which covered the period from 20 February to 8 March. The decree focused on those geographic areas that had been affected most severely and provided for targeted interventions, in order to try to contain the spread of the contagion and to avoid an impact on the national economic system. According to Art. 1, in the regions and provinces indicated (a large part of Northern Italy), movements in and out of many territories have been restricted or forbidden, only allowing movement for proven work-related needs, health reasons and otherwise serious needs. In addition to that, all events held in public or private places open to the public, such as cultural, recreational or sporting events, were shut down and forbidden, even if held in closed areas; the