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

allows it, recovering the money. For all these reasons, it requested that the European Package Travel Directive be put into "hibernation mode" during this period of exception. The Spanish government responded to these requirements through a Royal Decree with which it adopted urgent measures in this regard. IV. Urgent Measures Adopted in Spain against the Cancellations of Package Travel due to the Coronavirus: Royal Decree-Law 11/2020 In order to provide consumers and users with the mechanisms that guarantee their rights and their protection, on April 1, 2020, Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of March 31, (Real Decreto-Ley 11/2020, de 31 de marzo, por el que se adoptan medidas urgentes complementarias en el ámbito social y económico para hacer frente al COVID-19 1 1 ), was published, adopting urgent measures complementary in the social and economic sphere to face COVID-19. It regulates in article 36 a series of measures that affect the rights of consumers. Precisely, section 4 of this article refers to the cancellation of package travel due to COVID-19 and establishes that, in the event that the package travel contract is canceled, as a result of COVID-19, the consumer or user may choose to: a) a voucher to be used within one year from the end of the state of alarm and its extensions, for an amount equal to the corresponding reimbursement. In the event that this period of one year elapses and it has not been enjoyed by the consumer, he will have the right to a full refund. b) If the consumer or user has requested the termination of the contract in accordance with the provisions of article 160 of the Texto refundido de la Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios , section 2 (regulates the termination of the contract for extraordinary causes without penalty), they must reimburse the amount paid, provided that the providers of services included in the packaged travel contract would have proceeded to the full refund of the amount corresponding to their services. Now: If only some of the service providers of the combined trip made the return to the organiser or, where appropriate, to the retailer, or the amount returned by each of them was partial, the consumer or user will have the right to the corresponding partial 11 BOE n. 91, 1-04-2020.