Tourism Law in Europe

9 it is difficult to conclude which rules have priority in application and whether the act is lex specialis or lex generalis . The main goals of Croatian tourism law are to achieve successful development of tourism hospitality and catering industry and effective business structures based on social market economy, consumer protection, protection of environment, high standards for the protection of travelers' rights, safety of tourists, high quality of tourist services, non- discrimination for providers and recipients of tourism services. Croatian tourism law is based on the principle of transparency concretised by the rules on information duties of the providers of tourism services 31 , high standards for the protection of tourism services users' rights 32 , categorisation and standardisation of the hospitality of a catering facility (minimum requirements for its type and category, quality marks) 33 , specific 31 Information duties for the providers of tourism services are generally laid down in article 6 TSA for all service providers. The providers of tourism services are obliged to make public the conditions, the content and the price of each service in Croatian language, and optionally also in another language [art. 6(1). Online platforms offering services for a fee (connecting service providers and users of tourism services) must provide the ID numbers of the providers of tourism services offered in the territory of the Republic of Croatia [art. 6(a)]. In the TSA, there is a series of provisions laying down the tourism services providers’ obligation to provide the necessary information. Tourist agencies must display their company’s name, the seat, their working hours at a prominent position at the entrance of their offices and visibly display the seat in all their written promotional materials and on web pages offering their services (art. 20). They must also make public on their web pages all general information including their names and seats, the name and surname of their operations managers, their address, working hours, their tax ID or VAT ID numbers, detailed information on the competent body supervising their activities, general terms and conditions for services provided (art. 21). Tourist agencies are obliged to provide pre-contractual excursion information (art. 25). The organiser and the trader of packages are obliged to provide pre-contractual information on packages (art. 29). All pre-contractual information must be provided in a clear, comprehensible and prominent manner [art. 29(5)]. Transparent information obligations on tourist services are also provided for other legal and natural persons offering tourism services such as trips on board of vessels of nautical tourism [art. 61(5), TSA]. The obligations regarding the provision of transparent information by hospitality and catering service providers are laid down in the Hospitality and Catering Industry Act [artt. 10(1)-(5), (11), (32)(1)-(3) et al.]. 32 For each service provided, the user of a tourism service is allowed to lodge a written complaint in the tourist provider's business premises or lodge a written complaint by post, fax or electronic mail. The service provider is obliged to confirm in writing, without delay and to reply to such complaint in a written form within 15 days following the receipt of the complaint [art. 6(3) TSA]. The same obligation is also laid down for hospitality and catering service providers [art. 10(10), Hospitality and Catering Industry Act]. 33 The Hospitality and Catering Industry Act sets forth that for the performance of hospitality and catering activities, in hospitality and catering facilities, minimum requirements for the type, pertaining to the design and equipment of facilities and services, must be met. (art. 15). Certain types of hospitality and catering facilities are categorised in this Act depending on their organisation, equipment, appliances, services, maintenance and other prescribed elements (art. 16). Minimal requirements and the categories are prescribed by the Minister competent for tourism.