{"id":124624,"date":"2015-05-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-29T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/new-protection-rules-for-people-booking-online-travel-packages-within-the-eu\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T22:21:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T20:21:18","slug":"new-protection-rules-for-people-booking-online-travel-packages-within-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/new-protection-rules-for-people-booking-online-travel-packages-within-the-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"New Protection Rules for People Booking Online Travel Packages within the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ministers in the European Union Competitiveness Council have reached a political agreement regarding new protection rules for over 120 million people who book travel packages online, in order to adapt European legislation to the digital era.<\/div>\n
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These rules also support the travel industry, which will benefit from reduced red tape and legislative clarity, stated Vera Jourova, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers, and Gender Equality, in a European Commission press release.<\/div>\n
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Travel services will always be protected if they are promoted as a package or if they are offered at a total price.<\/div>\n
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In addition to the rights provided in current legislation, travelers will benefit from clearer information regarding travel packages and the protection they enjoy under travel package rules, including regarding prices and additional costs. If a travel package organizer wants to increase the price by more than 8%, the tourist will have the right to cancel the holiday for free. Furthermore, the provider must pass price reductions on to customers.<\/div>\n
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Cancellation of trips before departure will be free in the event of natural disasters and other serious situations occurring at the destination. Holiday package beneficiaries will be able to cancel the holiday for any reason by paying a reasonable cancellation fee.<\/div>\n
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The project provides for the clear identification of the liable party in case of problems, namely the travel package organizer, across all member states.<\/div>\n
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The trip organizer will be obliged to assist travelers in difficulty. For example, tourists will be entitled to three nights of additional accommodation if returning from the trip is not possible due to natural disasters, unless other passenger rights regulations include longer periods.<\/div>\n
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If a travel package organizer goes bankrupt, guarantees will also be extended to linked travel arrangements. Providers of such arrangements, such as airlines, will be required to come under insolvency protection, guaranteeing the refund of funds and the repatriation of travelers if they go bankrupt.<\/div>\n
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Companies will also benefit from the modernization of legislation and the reduction of the administrative burden, with compliance costs expected to decrease from EUR 11 to EUR 8 per travel package sold.<\/div>\n
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In June, the European Parliament is to vote in plenary to approve the agreement between European institutions, and the EU Council is to officially approve the agreement in September or October, which will enter into force after publication in the Official Journal of the EU.<\/div>\n
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Member states will have 2 years to implement the new rules, and travel service merchants an additional six-month period to adapt to the new legislation.<\/div>\n
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The new rules will apply to three types of travel service combinations: travel packages that include at least two elements (transport, accommodation, or other services), customized packages chosen by the traveler and purchased from a single online or offline provider, and linked online travel arrangements where a consumer booking a travel service on a site is invited to book another service via another link. In this latter case, the traveler benefits from certain protection if the second booking was made within 24 hours.<\/div>\n
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Source: Wall-Street<\/a><\/p>\n

Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n

What happens if the travel package price increases significantly?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the organizer increases the price by more than 8%, the tourist has the right to cancel the holiday for free. Additionally, any price reductions obtained by the provider must be passed on to the customer.<\/p>\n

What are the rights of travelers in case of natural disasters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Travelers can cancel their holiday for free before departure. If they are already at the destination and cannot return, they are entitled to three nights of additional accommodation paid for by the organizer.<\/p>\n

What protection exists in case of the operator’s bankruptcy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new rules extend insolvency guarantees to linked travel arrangements, requiring providers to guarantee the refund of funds and the repatriation of tourists in the event of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ministers in the European Union Competitiveness Council have reached a political agreement regarding new protection rules for over 120 million people who book travel packages online, in order to adapt European legislation to the digital era. These rules also support the travel industry, which will benefit from reduced red tape and legislative clarity, stated Vera…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":65432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2858],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-124624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tourism"],"article_style_override":"","post-style":"","post_via":"","post-top-image":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/turism-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124624"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhn.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=124624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}