Tourism Law in Europe

travel services intermediary and tour guide activities. A trade licence for the operation of a travel services intermediary may be granted to anyone who meets the general conditions for the operation of a trade, i.e. the conditions of clean criminal record and legal capacity. No other prerequisites are required. A travel services intermediary is authorised, in particular, to sell package tours on behalf of a travel agency, but cannot organise package tours itself. Furthermore, it may sell or broker individual travel services. Individual travel services mean, in particular, the arrangement of transport, accommodation, catering, tour guide services, airline ticket sales and bookings, sales and bookings of railway and bus tickets, including seat reservations, etc. If a travel services intermediary intends to sell package tours of foreign travel agencies established in the European Economic Area, it must notify the Ministry for Regional Development accordingly. Travel services intermediaries may not sell package tours of foreign travel agencies that do not have an adequate security covering potential insolvency. c) Tour guide The concept of a “tour guide” and his/her basic duties are laid down by the Tourism Act. Other regulations governing the activities of tour guides include the Trade Act and Government regulations specifying the contents of individual trades. The name of the relevant field of unqualified trade is: Operation of a travel services intermediary and tour guide activities. A trade licence for the operation of this field of unqualified trade may be granted to anyone who meets the general conditions for the operation of a trade, i.e. the conditions of clean criminal record and legal capacity. No other prerequisites are required. As of 1 March 2021, tour guides must possess a special official licence for operating in the Czech Republic. There are two types of these licences: 1 st degree – without a proof of professional qualifications; and 2 nd degree – with a proof of professional qualifications. In practice, the customers themselves choose whether they will use the services of a 1 st or 2 nd degree tour guide. The duty to have a special tour guide licence does not apply to guides operating in buildings and in publicly accessible territories defined in the Nature