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EU reform of package holidays: German travelers are threatened with expensive holidays!
The EU is planning reforms to package holidays that could increase prices. Important for German travelers: 41% of EU trips come from here.
EU reform of package holidays: German travelers are threatened with expensive holidays!
The EU Commission is planning a comprehensive reform of the EU Package Travel Directive, which could potentially have far-reaching consequences for travelers and the travel industry. According to current information, Germans spent a total of 83 billion euros on travel last year, with almost half of this amount coming from package tours. This reform is particularly relevant as Germany is the most important travel market in Europe and 41% of all EU package holidays are sold here.
As part of the planned changes, the definition of package holidays will be revised. In the future, a trip will be classified as a package trip if a travel agency sells at least two individual travel services, such as flights and hotels, within a specified period of time. This new regulation would mean that intermediaries would have to fulfill the obligations of a regular tour operator, including insolvency protection and repatriation of travelers in an emergency.
Consequences for travelers
The reform could lead to higher prices for travelers as the new requirements entail additional security services that need to be financed. In this context, the German Travel Association (DRV) warns that travelers could be the ones who suffer from these measures. It is also required that travel agencies can continue to provide several individual services without having to be considered tour operators. This is intended to prevent travel offers from becoming unnecessarily more expensive.
Christoph Ploß, a representative of the CDU, emphasized that package holidays must remain affordable and that the bureaucratic effort must not lead to over-regulation. To meet the needs of travelers, it is crucial to strike a balance between security and pricing.
The planned reform of the package travel directive could therefore have far-reaching effects on the travel industry and travel costs. More detailed information can be found in the EU document that prepares the questions and answers about the reform.
For further details and more comprehensive information about the reform, please visit the website EU Commission. Those too Picture has published current reports on this topic that shed more light on the background.