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

4. What other amendments could have been carried out in Maltese law to assist the Organiser? The author regards that, although resorting to increasing the timeframe within which the refund has to be paid is a step in the right direction, other measures could be adopted to further assist organisers. As mentioned above, the voucher system, which replaces the obligation of the refund, contemplated in many EU Member States, provides for a situation in which the traveller would have a voucher that can be utilised for another package, in a specific timeframe. Moreover, in this scenario, the organiser would be in a position to use the payments made to third parties for a future package. The system of the vouchers would be ideal for many reasons. Primarily, the organiser is not refunding amounts which s/he might not have; secondly, the traveller will be able to travel in the future; and lastly, the entire tourism industry will benefit as a result of travel resuming to its full potential, as it was before the pandemic. 5. What kind of vouchers should be offered to the traveller? The characteristics of a voucher system are fundamental to ensure that the traveller is given the same rights as s/he had with the initial package travel contract. It would, therefore, be essential for the voucher to be of equal value to the original contract. Moreover, the voucher may be utilised within a period which is long enough to ensure that the situation has passed and that the traveller would have the free time to travel. The voucher provided by the organiser should also be protected from the insolvency of the organiser in order to protect the traveller. It is also an option to have a transferable voucher, allowing the traveller to pass it on to a third party should s/he not be able to travel until the expiry of the said voucher. Lastly, the traveller should be able to ask for a refund at the end of the expiry of the voucher should s/he not be able to travel. 6. Refunds versus Vouchers - the relationship between the organiser and the traveller and the organiser and a third party provider Whereas there is the obligation to refund the traveller within the 6 - month timeframe, as provided by the amended Maltese Law, there is still a grey area on the issue of payments made by the organiser to the third-party providers, such as hotels and airlines. It appears that not all such entities have taken a uniform approach, whereas some might be willing to refund the payment, other entities would not be so compromising. This means that it does not create a