PRIVATE ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY 97 hospitality and the distribution of tourism services, mostly holidays25. There are also a number of decisions, allegations and court rulings related to restrictions of competition in the tourism industry market across the world26. 3. ANTITRUST DAMAGES CLAIMS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY Violation of antitrust law in the tourism industry is possible as it is in other sectors of the economy. This fact has been asserted in a number of decisions by courts and competition authorities alike; the recent case of the Lithuanian online reservation system is just one example. Interestingly enough, from the private antitrust perspective, typical violations of competition law in tourism are related to the abuse of dominant position, various forms of tourist services distribution (mostly online) and mergers resulting in the excessive market power of merging companies. As a result, consumers of tourist services may pay higher prices than they would have paid should the market have worked properly. Moreover, consumer welfare can be violated by the above practices in other ways27. As a result of anticompetitive practices, other business can be harmed as well. For instance, tour operators can suffer as a result of anticompetitive practices of their subcontractors, e.g. transportation companies, hotels and other service providers. Furthermore, the above practices, in particular unlawful coordination in the market or other forms of anticompetitive agreements, including those aiming to eliminate competitors (foreclosure), can occur in the tourism market in various configurations. In tourism, as well as in other sectors, a possibility of the abuse of dominant position in the relevant market is not uncommon either. 25 See again See A. Papatheodoru, Exploring Competition Issues … and F. Souty, Competition in International Tourism … 26 See for example abuse of dominant position in Vietnam tourism market (Vietnam Legal Update: Decision on the Abuse of Dominant Position in the Tourism Sector, 17 March 2017, https://www.dfdl.com/resources/legal-and- -tax-updates/vietnam-legal-update-decision-on-the-abuse-of-dominant-position-in-the-tourism-sector/), investigation of the EC regarding airline tickets distribution (see Antitrust: Commission opens investigation into airline ticket distribution services, Brussels, 23 November 2018, https://ec.europa.eu/denmark/content/antitrust- -commission-opens-investigation-airline-ticket-distribution-services_en), Turkish case pertaining to suspected collusion between four tour operators (see E. Sahin, The Turkish Council of State annuls the decision of the Turkish Competition Authority which dismissed the complaint at the preliminary inquiry stage without evaluating the information that showed the collusion (Pegas / Anex / Tez / Odeon Tours), e-Competitions, National Competition Laws Bulletin, October 2015) or allegations of Russian competition authority towards travel agencies actions that can restrict competition (The Russian Competition Authority Issues Warnings to Travel Agencies to Stop Actions that Could Result in Competition Restrictions (WELL), 25 August 2014, https://www.concurrences.com/en/ bulletin/news-issues/ august-2014/The-Russian-Competition-Authority-75629). 27 A. Papatheodoru, Exploring Competition Issues …, p. 12.
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