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

refunds to be paid to the travellers. Should it result in more than one organiser going bankrupt, it would be a devastating scenario and questionable as to what extent the fund would be able to refund all travellers as a consequence. Hence, having analysed this hypothetical scenario, and in order to avoid the same, it would be in the best interest of organisers, as well as travellers, to have a voucher system resorted to in the Maltese legal system 8. Conclusion In conclusion, in view of the Package Travel Directive and the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects it brought with it, it is essential for the legal framework, both on national and European levels, to be flexible enough to be able to ensure that the rights of every party would be safeguarded, namely the consumers’ rights, on the one hand, and the organisers’ rights, on the other. Thus, it is the opinion of the author that, through the scheme provided through vouchers, this may be achieved, since travellers would be getting their holiday in the long run, whilst organisers would not have to fork out reimbursements that they do not themselves hold. Consequently, it would be regarded as a ‘win-win’ situation to preserve the travel and tourism industry as a whole. So, although Malta has only legislated for an extension of the 14 days to 6 months, as of the writing of this paper, only time will tell whether additional measures will be adopted.