Tourism Law in Europe

must extend to all bookings made during the contract period plus a supplementary liability period of one or two months 40 . In a guarantee contract, the guarantor has to provide those benefits to which the traveller is entitled under an insurance contract as stated before. The guaranteed sum must correspond to the sum insured. The tasks of the central contact point pursuant to Article 18(2) to (4) of the PTD are to be performed by the Federal Ministry for Digitalisation and Economy 41 . For package organisers or traders facilitating linked travel arrangements established in another Member State of the EU or the EEA, the insolvency insurance existing there is sufficient; package organisers or traders facilitating linked travel arrangements established outside the EU or the EEA, which also offer their services in Austria or, by any means, direct their activities to Austria 42 , require insolvency insurance in Austria or another Member State. 5. Accommodation The accommodation contract is not regulated separately in Austria but is considered a mixed contract with elements of rental and contract for work and services. Although Austria is a signatory of the Paris Convention on the Liability of Hotel-Keepers Concerning the Property of their Guests 43 it has never ratified this convention. However, there are some similar liability rules in the Austrian Civil Code 44 which provide for liability of innkeepers who accommodate strangers for the property brought in by the guests they have accommodated, unless they can prove that the damage was neither caused by them or one of their people nor by strangers leaving and entering the house 45 . Accordingly, the innkeeper is not only liable for the behaviour of other guests or other persons who have gained access with his knowledge and will, but also for theft by sneak thieves 46 - but not for burglary or robbery 47 . The liability is independent of a 40 Sec 5 Package Travel Regulation. 41 Bundesminsterium für Digitalisierung und Wirtschaftsstandort. 42 See Art. 6 para 1 Rome I Regulation. 43 Council of Europe Treaty ETS No. 041. 44 Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (ABGB). 45 Sec. 970 Austrian Civil Code. 46 SZ 48/97. 47 SZ 21/49; SZ 49/10; SZ 55/64.