Sustainable Tourism Law

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION 107 The provisions of the annexes themselves are split into “standards”, which are mandatory for the State Parties if the respective annex is accepted 14 and so called “recommended practices” which are only optional 15 . IV.2) Annex I introduces an obligation of the State Parties to provide assistance to tourists in case of emergency situations 16 . This obligation in particular includes certain efforts of the host country and an obligation of the tourist’s country to cooperate. The assistance only applies to tourists, not to local communities, and thus cannot be regarded as in any way serving the purpose of sustainable tourism. IV.3) Annex II more or less tries to transpose the principles of the new European Package Travel Directive on an international level. Therefore, to a wide extent the observations made above with regard to the new Package Travel Directive also apply to Annex II. IV.4) Annex III is about accommodation. Taking a closer look, we find information obligations 17 , responsibility for the proper performance of the contract and liability in case of failure 18 , as well as an assistance obligation 19 of the accommodation service provider in unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances or emergency situations. However, there is not a single provision which would relate to the rights of the accommodation service provider as a tourism service provider. Just to pick out an example, in Article 5 Recommended Practice 5.2 states that the accommodation service provider should display fair and ethical behaviour and should not increase the room rates for the sole reason of the unavoidable and extraordinary circumstance or the emergency situation, as far as the extra nights spent by the tourists are concerned. No word in the annex about fair and ethical behaviour of the tourists if the accommodation service provider is affected by an unavoidable and extraordinary circumstance or an emergency situation. 14 Article 6 of the Draft Convention. 15 Article 7 of the Draft Convention. 16 According to Article 1 of Annex I, “Emergency situations” are defined as “ unusual, extraordinary or unforeseeable circumstances beyond the control of the host country, that have resulted in the need of assistance on a large scale ”. 17 Articles 2 and 3 of Annex III. 18 Article 4 of Annex III. 19 Article 5 of Annex III.