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

economic integration processes, like those from the EU 53 and MERCOSUR 54 , and by more than hundreds of bilateral and trilateral agreements on protection of tourists 55 . The question is whether it is possible to deal with these problems globally, as the UNIDROIT has tried. Katharina Boele-Woelki argues that the unification of substantive law through Conventions, which, in her opinion, belongs in the past of international law, cannot be sustained, and this process is still ongoing 56 . In the protection of tourists indeed there are new international efforts, either at the UNWTO or at the Hague Conference on Private International Law. II.2 New International Efforts on Tourist Protection TheWorld TourismOrganization (UNWTO) recognises “ the insufficiency of binding rules at the global level governing rights and obligations of tourists and of tourist service providers ” 57 , especially in the “ context of increasing diversification of destinations and generating countries ”. Moreover, the Organization, “ desiring the achievement of a high level of tourist protection ”, has recognised “ the need to establish uniform provisions relating to the protection of tourists ” in case of “force majeure” (emergency situations and bankruptcy of the travel agency or travel package provider) 58 . After incidents such as the Iceland volcano case, tsunamis and nuclear disasters, the UNWTO realised the necessity “ for greater protection for travelers in the event of disasters in all parts of the 53 TONNER, Klaus. Electronic Commerce and Travel Law, In WILHELMSSON, Thomas et al. (Ed.). Consumer Law in the Information Society, Kluwer, 2001, p. 207. 54 Vid . SOARES, Ardyllis. A tutela internacional do consumidor turista, in Revista de Direito do Consumidor 82 (2012), pp. 113 & ff. 55 China has more than 146 bilateral agreements, and some of these bilateral agreements have a special clause to facilitate the access of the Chinese tourists to national enforcement agencies of consumer protection and linguistic help, see Brazil-China and EU-China Memorandum of Understanding. Vid . W. Dan. A Protecção do Turista através do Direito do Consumidor, in Revista de Direito do Consumidor 83 (2012), p. 40. 56 BOELE-WOELKI, Katharina. Unifying and Harmonizing Substantive Law and the Role of Conflict of Laws . Pocketbooks of the Hague Academy of International Law, Leiden: Martinus Nijhof Ed, 2010, p. 63. 57 UNWTO, CE/94/3 I e. 58 Available at http://www2.unwto.org/en/event/workshop-protection-touristsconsumers-and-travel- organizers (accessed on 28 July 2020).