Sustainable Tourism Law

548 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW international Conventions previously mentioned. Thus, travellers can file a legal action against the organizer, the carrier or any person that may be held liable, or against some of them. In these cases, the quantities paid in concept for damages may be compensated among the responsible individuals. III. SOME CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES: THE PROTECTION OF TRAVELLERS IN THE EVENT OF INSOLVENCY OF THE PURCHASER The Directive raises some controversial questions. Among them, we must mention the duty of the organisers or traders of package travels, and the other tourism products considered to have a scope related to the provision of adequate guarantees, to protect travellers against their eventual insolvency 19 . The inclusion of such a duty within the Directive is not new. These provisions had already been considered under Directive 90/314/CEE, about package travels. Nevertheless, the current regulation broadens its scope. The protection against the insolvency of the organiser benefits travellers, and disregards their residence, the departure point or the place where the product had been commercialized. The protection is not conditioned by the Member State in which the guarantor resides. Thus, Member States assume the obligation to ensure that the organizers that reside in their territories guarantee the travellers for the reimbursement of all the payments that they have made. Moreover, when the contract includes the transport of the passenger, such guarantees against the organiser’s insolvency must also cover the traveller’s repatriation. In this latter case, the Directive states that the travellers must also be offered the possibility to carry on with their travel package. The Directive does also leave margin of discretion to the Member States to consider the determination of the particular means by which travellers shall be protected against the organizer’s insolvency. This freedom to choose the concrete way of protection faces a necessary limit. Independently of the requirements demanded in the regulation of every State, the protection conferredmust be effective. What is supposed to be considered as ‘effective’ is also stated by the Directive. Effectiveness implies that the protection should become available as soon as the 19 On these questions, see BENAVIDES VELASCO, P. “La obligación de las agencias de viaje de prestar las garantías contempladas en la Directiva de viajes combinados”, International Journal of Scientific Management and Tourism , Vol. 4, no. 2, 2018.