Collective Commentary about the New Package Travel Directive

DIRECTIVE (EU) 2015/2302 1299 (28) Organisers should provide general information on the visa requirements of the country of destination. The information on approximate periods for obtaining visas can be provided as a reference to official information of the country of destination. (29) Taking into account the specificities of package travel contracts, the rights and obligations of the contracting parties should be laid down for the period before and after the start of the package, in particular if the package is not properly performed or if particular circumstances change. (30) Since packages are often purchased a long time before their performance, unforeseen events may occur. Therefore the traveller should, under certain conditions, be entitled to transfer a package travel contract to another traveller. In such situations, the organiser should be able to recover his expenses, for instance if a sub-contractor requires a fee for changing the name of the traveller or for cancelling a transport ticket and issuing a new one. (31) Travellers should also be able to terminate the package travel contract at any time before the start of the package in return for payment of an appropriate and justifiable termination fee, taking into account expected cost savings and income from alternative deployment of the travel services. They should also have the right to terminate the package travel contract without paying any termination fee where unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances will significantly affect the performance of the package. This may cover for example warfare, other serious security problems such as terrorism, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of a serious disease at the travel destination, or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely to the destination as agreed in the package travel contract. (32) In specific situations, the organiser should also be entitled to terminate the package travel contract before the start of the package without paying compensation, for instance if the minimum number of participants is not reached and where that possibility has been reserved in the contract. In that event, the organiser should refund all payments made in respect of the package. (33) In certain cases organisers should be allowed to make unilateral changes to the package travel contract. However, travellers should have the right to terminate the package travel contract if the changes alter significantly any of the main