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

traveller shall be entitled to a full refund of any payments made for the package, but shall not be entitled to additional compensation. (Art. 12, 1 y 2). This situation has occurred before the closure of borders and the declaration of the state of alarm of the states. It was the traveller himself who gave up the package for fear of contagion at the destination. What happens if the organiser terminates the package travel contract? The organiser may terminate the package travel contract and provide the traveller with a full refund of any payments made for the package, but shall not be liable for additional compensation, if the organiser is prevented from performing the contract because of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances and notifies the traveller of the termination of the contract without undue delay before the start of the package. (Art. 12. 3 and 4), situation that has occurred precisely with the health crisis of COVID-19. In Spain, article 12 was transposed in the same terms in article 160 of the Texto refundido de la Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios y otras leyes complementarias, approved by Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, de 16 de noviembre, modified by Real Decreto-ley 23/2018, de 21 de diciembre, de transposición de directivas en materia de marcas, transporte ferroviario y viajes combinados y servicios de viaje vinculados 9 . This being the case, it is here where the travel agencies with which the traveler contracted the package are protagonists. The main characteristic of a package is that there is one trader responsible as an organiser for the proper performance of the package as a whole. Only in cases where another trader is acting as the organiser of a package should a trader, typically a high street or online travel agent, be able to act as a mere retailer or intermediary and not be liable as an organiser. It should be noted that, although initially the responsibility rests with the organiser, Directive 2015/2302 also places the responsibility on retailers in two cases: if the national law applicable to the contract so establishes it (art. 13, paragraph 1) and when the organiser is established outside the European Economic Area (art. 20). 9 BOE 1.4.2020.