Memo: Package travel rights: Commission examines options

The European Commission met with consumer groups and business leaders in the travel industry to discuss the review of the current EU legislation on package holidays. The 1990 Package Travel Directive protects European consumers booking pre-arranged package holidays. For example, the rules ensure that holidaymakers will always get home even if a tour operator goes bust.

Over the last years, the development of the internet and the emergence of low-cost air carriers have revolutionised the way in which people organise their holidays. An increasing number of EU citizens, in addition to buying pre-arranged packages, now put together their holidays themselves.

These changes in the travel market, in particular the impact of online booking, mean that the overall proportion of holidaymakers booking traditional package holidays, and therefore protected by the Directive, has fallen. The Commission is therefore examining three main options: modernising the current legislation, leaving it as it is, or scrapping it entirely.

Following final stakeholder consultations, Vice-President Viviane Reding, in liaison with Vice-President Antonio Tajani, intended to decide on next steps in late Spring.