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

at any time before the start of the package, under the conditions described in article 12 Directive (EU) 2015/2302 7 . The withdrawal of the traveller is contemplated in cases in which extraordinary circumstances concur that significantly affect the execution of the package travel contract. This may cover, for example, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of a serious disease at the travel destination. Conditions which make it impossible to travel safely to the destination as agreed in the package travel contract such as Coronoavirus pandemic. In those cases, travellers should be able to terminate the package travel contract at any time before the start of the package in return for payment of an appropriate and justifiable termination fee, taking into account expected cost savings and income from alternative deployment of the travel services. They should also have the right to terminate the package travel contract without paying any termination fee where unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances will significantly affect the performance of the package 8 . It is interesting to check the details of article 12 Directive (EU) 2015/2302 to understand the legal basis for the claim of travel agencies regarding the health crisis. This being the case, article 12 is reproduced below: Article 12 Termination of the package travel contract and the right of withdrawal before the start of the package 1. Member States shall ensure that the traveller may terminate the package travel contract at any time before the start of the package. Where the traveller terminates the package travel contract under this paragraph, the traveller may be required to pay an appropriate and justifiable termination fee to the organiser. The package travel contract may specify reasonable standardised termination fees based on the time of the 7 Vid , in extenso , Francesco Torchia, “Termination of the package Travel contract and the right of withdrawal before the start of the package” in Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive, online edition, 2020, pp. 281 et seq . Vid , S. Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, Viajes combinados y servicios de viajes vinculados (Directiva (UE) 2015/2302. Cuestiones de ley aplicable, Madrid, 2018, pp. 92 et seq . 8 Vid . Whereas n. 31 Directive (EU) 2015/2302.