Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement to update rules protecting package holiday travelers, drawing on lessons from recent events such as the pandemic and major company bankruptcies. The new draft law, agreed informally by negotiators from both institutions, aims to clarify what constitutes a travel package, outline cancellation conditions, and strengthen travelers’ rights to information, assistance, and refunds in various scenarios.
Under the revised definition, it will be clearer which combinations of travel services are considered packages and therefore fall under these protections. The previous category of “linked travel arrangements” will be removed for a more uniform approach. When booking additional services that do not form part of a package, organizers must inform clients accordingly.
For online bookings where personal data is shared between traders and contracts are concluded within 24 hours, these combinations will now also be considered packages.
The directive introduces detailed provisions for vouchers—an issue that became prominent during Covid-19 lockdowns. Consumers can refuse vouchers and request a refund within 14 days if they prefer. Vouchers will be valid for up to 12 months; unused vouchers must be refunded automatically when they expire. Holders may use vouchers for any service offered by the organizer, in full or in part. These vouchers must also be covered by insolvency guarantees and can be extended or transferred once.
In cases where a trip organizer goes bankrupt, clients are entitled to refunds from insolvency guarantee funds within six months; this period may extend to nine months in exceptional circumstances with high workloads.
Travelers may cancel trips without penalty if unavoidable or extraordinary circumstances arise at their destination or departure point before departure or during the journey. Each case will be assessed individually; official travel recommendations will play a role but are not alone sufficient grounds for automatic refunds after cancellation since EU countries do not coordinate travel warnings.
If travelers book despite being aware of risks at the time of purchase, they cannot later cancel without paying termination fees.
Regarding enforcement, lawmakers chose not to harmonize penalties for rule violations or cap pre-payments across all member states but allow individual countries to set their own limits if desired.
A clear complaint-handling process must now be established by operators: complaints must receive acknowledgment within seven days and a reasoned reply within sixty days.
Following the agreement, Parliament’s rapporteur Alex Agius Saliba (S&D, MT) stated: “Today’s agreement reinforced the rights of travellers in the EU. We introduced a complaint handling mechanism with mandatory deadlines, making sure people get a timely, reasoned reply from the travel organiser if something goes wrong and they have to file a complaint. We set new rules on vouchers to make sure they are voluntary, and refunded if not used. We shielded travellers better against the trip organiser insolvency and gave them the right to cancel their travel with a full refund in extraordinary circumstances, such as a pandemic. This is a good deal that will help both consumers and businesses in all Europe.”
The deal requires formal approval by both Parliament and Council early next year before it becomes law. Member states would then have 28 months to adapt national legislation followed by another six months before applying the new rules.
