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

7 one year of termination of the first. More generally speaking, to contain the vast damages reported by transport companies as a direct effect of the epidemic, significant support measures have been introduced and, in this context, the decision to nationalise Alitalia (the Italian airline company), required by Art. 79 of the Decree-Law No. 18 of 2020, or the suspension of the berthing tax, to compensate for the sudden reduction of maritime traffic, according to Art. 92 of the same decree. Other measures were added to provide financial support to all airline companies, but these measures have a broader scope transversal and do not concern tourism alone, since, of course, the transport has wider objectives and the crisis is global. The possibility of not returning the paid amounts, in derogation to the private law provisions and of recognising a credit that can be exercised within a year, represents a significant advantage for carriers, even more so for scheduled transport, for which the carrying out of the new journey may not involve direct costs. The protection this grants to carriers and organisers alike is quite significant, even more so for the latter, who will, within a year, benefit from a significant number of free transports, although not necessarily all the credits granted by them to the consumers will actually be collected. 4. Service providers other than the carrier According to art. 88, paragraph 3, of Decree-Law No. 18 of 2020, refunds are provided via the so-called " voucher " for the purchase of tickets for any type of show, such as cinema, theatre or visits to museums or similar cultural venues. This solution is in line with that adopted for transports and organised travel. Those who carry out the activities mentioned above must grant a credit that the consumer must collect in the following year and, in the meantime, the organiser can retain the already collected payment. No similar rules have been envisaged for other businesses such as hotels or catering/refreshment (in the broadest sense).