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

6 tourism quality model, but, of course, provided that these requirements are justified and proportionate to the specific business model, without giving precedence to the traditional models that such online intermediaries could carry out 12 . Furthermore, as long as these platforms limit themselves to providing information society services, without extending their activities to the provision of the underlying service, it is not possible to require such authorisations or extra demands of them, without altering, as we shall see, their nature and, consequently, any obligations that may be imposed. This simply because these platforms facilitate transactions through efficient payment channels or offer other additional services such as insurance to cover any risks involved in carrying out the provision 13 . Before even analysing these questions and continuing with this work, however, it should be clarified what can be considered as collaborative tourism activities. To do this, we have to approach the question from two different perspectives: one is what can be considered by tourist activities, and the other is when these activities can fit under the umbrella of the so-called collaborative economy. II.1. Transport and accommodation as basic elements of tourism In a definition fully accepted and promoted by the World Tourism Organization, tourism is conceived as the activities carried out by people during their trips and stays in places other than their typical environment, for a period less than one year in a row for leisure purposes, business or other reasons. What is interesting about this definition are the terms trips, stays and places different from their usual environment, since such words necessarily lead us to think about the transfer of a person from one place, the one where he/she lives, to another different one, needing at least two fundamental elements for this, which are transport and accommodation. These elements can also be found in the 12 This is a question that has been denounced in previous works, such as GONZÁLEZ CABRERA, I., “¿La necesaria regulación Ad Hoc de las viviendas vacacionales? El caso de Canarias”, Revista Internacional de Derecho del Turismo. RIDETUR , no. 1, 2018; and GONZÁLEZ CABRERA, I. & RODRÍGUEZ GONZÁLEZ, M.ª P., “El futuro de las viviendas vacacionales en Canarias y la necesaria modificación de su actual regulación jurídica”, en La regulación del alojamiento colaborativo: viviendas de uso turístico y alquiler de corta estancia en el Derecho español , Ana María de la Encarnación Valcácer (Dir.), Aranzadi, Cizur Menor, 2018, pp. 407-428. 13 This is the case, for example, of the insurance offered by BlaBlaCar to both drivers and travellers, which would be taken out with the AXA company.