On the 1st of July 2018 a fundamental change took place to holiday law. The EU’s Package Travel Directive 2015 came into effect on the statute books in England and Wales, redefining a package contract, providing travellers with stronger cancellation rights and protection when in difficulty, as well as making changes to the ATOL certification.
The law has been changed to catch up with the variety of methods available for booking overseas travel arrangements to consumers in the digital age. A vast number of previously non packaged arrangements will now fall under the Package Travel Regulations meaning an additional 10 million holidays annually will be protected.
The changes apply to bookings made on or after the 1st of July 2018. As ever with new legislation, more questions are created than answered – if a travel agent books a package with a tour operator and then provides car hire for the holiday duration do they then become the principal liable for the entire package? What constitutes ‘Force Majeure’ now? If a flight is delayed, where does responsibility to the consumer lie between the airline and package principal and what cancellation fees can be applied in what circumstances?
A lot of businesses that previously did not need to take full responsibility for the arrangements they booked with service providers for their customers are now liable for them. Those businesses will need the many years experience that the team at the Travel Advice Centre can offer.
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