Aspects Of Updating The European Package Travel Directive And Their Impact On Tourism Complaints

Changes in the way the tourism companies do business create tension when trying to follow the current out–of-date legal framework for tourism complaints. In order to reflect the changes in business environment and consumer behavior the European Commission approves a new Package Travel Directive. The current article analyzes and summarizes the newly approved changes in the legal framework of the package travel. Comments on their impact on the sellers' business and consumer protection in regard to the complaint-handling process have been made. The conclusions about the expected improvements in the considered aspects are as follows: the unification of the rules on information, liability and mutual recognition of national protection schemes against insolvency will create equality between different sellers; the number of consumers who will be able to make complaints about the tourist services being used will increase; improvement of the awareness of consumers in regard to liability in case of failure or improper performance of the concluded travel contract; better consumer rights in case of cancellation or seller's insolvency; better indemnity in case of complaints raised.