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

25 the time (minutes and hours) rather than daily; and (ii) because such vehicles are often leased and used within the same municipality 51 , even though there is nothing to prevent them from being used for intercity travel Through these platforms, those people who need a vehicle for specific occasions rent it to others during the time they are not using it. Thus, the relationship is between equals and for a time and cost significantly less than that which could be obtained through any car rental company 52 . Indeed that they are hardly in competition with the latter, among other reasons because they are still in full development and because not so many travellers know the advantages of visiting a place, travelling on public transport and using this rental system only on those occasions when it really requires a car. Besides, it will always be possible to request a transport service through the well-known platforms for renting a vehicle with a driver (such as Uber) or sharing a trip with other passengers through platforms such as BlaBlaCar 53 . Car-sharing platforms have been expanding their offer, to the point that currently all types of transport can be demanded through them, from the classic car, through motorcycles, caravans, covering transport and accommodation needs, but also, for a more privileged sector of the population or with higher purchasing power, boats, and planes 54 . Nevertheless, there is also an increasing number of different platforms and social networks that are being put at the service of tourists, making it possible to accommodate them in different ways than those already indicated in the first part of this work, as well as to help share or rent vehicles in a unconventional way or, simply, as a complementary offer that allows the hosts to improve and perform their offer. Consequently, at this time and given the ingenuity of those who are trying to obtain some income and those who wish to lower their expenses, we find that, through the so-called collaborative tourism, it 51 ARMENGOL i GASULL, O. & OLMOS CASTRO, N., “El impacto de la economía colaborativa en el transporte interurbano: un análisis jurídico del Ride Sharing ”, in La regulación de la economía colaborativa , Juan José Montero Pascual (Dir.), Tirant lo blanch, Valencia, 2017, p. 329. 52 The following platforms stand out Avacar, BluMove, Easycar o Car2go, among others. 53 GONZÁLEZ CABRERA, I., “El turismo colaborativo: Las múltiples actividades puestas al servicio del turismo y la dificultad de su encaje jurídico único”, op. cit. , p. 56. 54 Examples of these are Boatsetter and Boaterfly.