Trade association urges EU to ‘get it right’ on package travel reform

The European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Association (ECTAA) has warned that revised proposals by the European Parliament for reform of the Package Travel Directive (PTD) threaten fragmentation and confusion.

 

ECTAA welcomed the ditching of some proposals following a plenary vote by MEPs this month but said: “Key concerns remain.”

 

A proposal to limit prepayments to 25% of a package price has gone. But the Parliament replaced it with a proposal to allow individual member states to set their own prepayment rules.

 

ECTAA warned this “risks undermining a level playing field for operators and creating unnecessary compliance burdens for cross-border businesses”.

 

It also criticised a proposal to extend the definition of a package to separate but linked bookings made within 24 hours, warning this risked “blurring the line between packages and standalone services” and creating “confusion for consumers and traders”.

 

ECTAA said there had been “insufficient effort to ensure better alignment with passenger rights legislation, particularly regarding refunds and insolvency protection”.

 

Association president Frank Oostdam said: “We cannot afford half-measures.”

 

The PTD reform process will now move to ‘trilogue’ negotiations between the Parliament, European Council and European Commission.

 

ECTAA called on the negotiators “to get it right [and] remove sources of confusion and fragmentation” in the final text.

 

The EC’s initial proposals for reform of the directive, published in November 2023, included significant extensions of consumers’ rights – not only the 25% limit on prepayments but also the right to cancel a holiday in the event of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” at a consumer’s “place of residence or departure”.

 

The proposals alarmed package organisers and led Abta to express relief that the revision would not apply in the UK. Abta is an affiliate member of ECTAA.

 

The European Council responded by cutting the prepayments proposal entirely and amending the extension of cancellation rights to cover only a consumer’s place of departure, not their place of residence.

 

Both the EC and Council propose a new right for package organisers to seek refunds from airlines within seven days of a cancellation. However, industry lawyers doubt such a provision could be enforced.

 

The Package Travel Directive is the basis of the UK Package Travel Regulations (PTRs) which are subject to separate reform by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).

 

The DBT is still assessing responses to its consultation on reform which closed on June 30.