Sustainable Tourism Law

A NEW DRAFT REGULATION OF PACKAGE TRAVELS IN SPAIN 545 Protection published a working document 10 with a broad study on the implementation of the Council Directive 90/314/CEE of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours 11 . The findings of the studies indicated in that paper led the Commission to consider the need for its modification, taking into account the differences among the national regulations resulting of the transposition of the Directive into the internal legal systems. The broad room to manoeuvre that was given to the Member States in the transposition of that Directive created some relevant differences in the internal regulations. This fact created major obstacles when tourism enterprises tried to carry out their activity in different European countries. Negative effects also emerged with regards to consumers, as this situation limited their choices when purchasing such services. This situation had already been evinced in the European Commission’s report on the transposition of the Directive 12 in 1999, long before the publishing of the working paper. Among other relevant issues, this report analysed the very concept of travel package and it questioned whether the sale of different tourism services at an inclusive or total price should be considered as such. From that moment on, different studies have been performed on the need for a revision of the legislation so it can be adapted to the new ways of selling these tourism services. These have led to the adoption of the current Directive. Indeed, the revision of the European regulation of travel packages has been based in these facts 13 . The distribution channels of tourism services have changed significantly changed, and relevant efforts have been made within the industry to broaden the existing offer, segmenting it and trying to avoid seasonality. The generalized used of the Internet has also been an important reason for the legislative change. Nowadays, consumers don’t just use the Internet for contracting these services, but also to design packages of tourism services by themselves 14 . 10 Working document on the Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours, Brussels 26.07.2007. This document is accessible at: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ rights/commission_working_document_final26-07-2007.pdf 11 Vid ., por todos, sobre el contenido de la Directiva, el trabajo de AURIOLES MARTÍN, A., “La Directiva sobre viajes combinados y la adaptación de la normativa española de Agencias de viaje”, Revista de Derecho Mercantil , núm. 206, 1992. 12 Document SEC (1999) 1800 final. 13 On the important changes and the effects of the use of Internet, see MASSENO, M. D., “On the relevance of Big Data for the formation of contracts regarding package tours or linked travel arrangements , according to the New Package Travel Directive”, The New Package Travel Directive , ESHTE/INATEL, Lisbon, 2017. 14 PEINADO GRACIA, J.I., “La protección del pasajero en el contrato de viaje combinado y en la prestación de servicios asistidos de viaje: la responsabilidad del transportista aéreo y de los operadores turísticos”, in La responsabilidad del transportista aéreo y la protección de los pasajeros, (Dir, M.ª J, Guerrero Lebrón), Madrid, Marcial Pons, 2015.