EU Is Investigating Tour Operators Over Suspected Anticompetitive Practices
Photo Credit: EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. A number of tour operators and a hotel company are being investigated over suspected anticompetitive practices. Flickr / Friends of Europe
Skift Take
The likes of Thomas Cook and Tui Group should be wary of Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who in the past has taken on Google and Apple. Should she find anything amiss there is the potential of a sizable fine and a revamp of their practices.
Tour operators and a hotel company are the latest alleged transgressors to come into the crosshairs of the European Union's Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
The former Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark is leading an investigation into a potential breech of antitrust laws by businesses, including Thomas Cook and Tui Group, over hotel pricing.
Businesses in the EU are forbidden from discriminating on price between customers from different countries within it. The EU, however, suspects that some businesses are putting up barriers in order to fragment the market.
One of the biggest changes brought about by the EU has been the dissolution of borders between member countries. The organization has spent years trying to enable the smooth passage of goods, services and people offline but in many ways has struggled with the online world.
In an attempt to remedy this the EU by pushing through a Digital Single Market strategy, which was formally adopted in May 2015.
While
