New Packaged Vacations Law in Europe Causing Confusion
Photo Credit: A beach in Portugal. Consumers will benefit from new laws regulating packaged vacations. Flickr / Martin Robson
Skift Take
Despite the travel industry having had years to get used to the idea of new rules governing the sale of vacations in the European Union, there are still plenty of people still scratching their heads over the changes.
A new consumer-friendly law governing the sale of vacations, which came into force at the start of July across the European Union, is causing its fair share of confusion.
The so-called Package Travel Directive has been in the works for years, ever since EU legislators had decided that the previous rules—passed almost 30 years ago—were in big need of an update as technology has transformed booking travel.
On the surface, this looks like a win for consumers. The directive beefs up cancelation rights and, in theory, provides more clarity on who the consumer should contact if there is a problem with a trip.
The issue for businesses is that there's a huge amount of uncertainty over the new rules.
What is an EU directive?
It’s a piece of legislation that “sets out a goal that all EU countries must achieve.” To some extent, each country has some leeway. Germany might do things differently than Greece, which could do things differently than the UK. But they all must get to
