Sustainable Tourism Law

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 105 a result of any lack of conformity 7 , but does not provide for any liability of the traveller. And again, one of the potential defences of the organiser is the fact that the lack of conformity was attributable to the traveller, who may therefore lose his right to compensation if he had caused the lack of conformity by his own action. Therefore, as a result the aforesaid conclusions apply. III.4) The Directive introduces a new obligation of the organiser to give appropriate assistance to the traveller in trouble 8 . This assistance has to be provided free of charge unless the problem is caused intentionally by the traveller or through the traveller’s negligence. In these cases the organiser is allowed to charge a reasonable fee, which must not exceed the actual costs incurred by the organiser. This appears to be another proof that the obligations which the Directive imposes on the traveller are quite low – even if it comes down to self-responsibility. We could think of cases when careless behaviour of a traveller in relation to local environment, culture or religion could bring him into such issues. Still, he would be entitled to assistance by the organiser but would have to pay for this assistance. A consequence which doesn’t seem to be a very effective instrument to encourage careful behaviour. III.5) As a result we can say that the new Package Travel Directive has a strong focus on consumer protection, with only very small attempts to encourage careful and responsible behaviour of the travellers, which could be regarded as contributing to sustainable tourism. IV. DRAFT UNWTO CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION OF TOURISTS AND THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF TOURISM SERVICE PROVIDERS IV.1) The UNWTO is working on an international Convention on the Protection of Tourists and the Rights and Obligations of Tourism Service Providers. Currently, there is a 9 th draft version of this intended legal instrument. The recitals of this document refer to: 7 Article 14 paragraph 2 of Directive 2015/2302/EU. 8 Article 16 of Directive 2015/2302/EU.