The Legal Impacts of COVID-19 in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

THE CZECH FIGHT OVER VOUCHERS 141 2) Controversial situations; and 3) a combination of both. Which will be addressed throughout this section. III.1. What is a clear situation? The country or countries where the package travel shall be performed is in a quarantine and it is simply closed for travellers. In view of Article 12 of the 2015 Package Travel Directive (PTD), this situation is self-explanatory. When the destination is closed, and the services are not functioning, the tour operator cannot provide the services included in the package to the traveller. Hence, the tour operator shall terminate the package and refund all the money. If the tour operator does not terminate the contract, the traveller is also allowed to withdraw from the package tour, as the problem is obviously that the package tour cannot be performed at the destination as stipulated in the contract. III.2. What is a controversial situation? It is a situation, which, in the author’s opinion, goes beyond the reasoning of the creators of Article 12 PTD, and, therefore, the right of the traveller for a full refund is under question. It is a situation in which: The tour operator is ready to provide the package, but the country where the traveller resides does not allow the traveller to travel out of the country. Or it is a situation in which: The tour operator is generally ready to provide the package, but the country where the package travel shall be performed does not allow the entrance of travellers from certain risky states, placing them in quarantine. As mentioned earlier, since 13 March, Czech citizens cannot leave the Czech Republic because the Government does not allow it. Even if a traveller booked a package to Greenland, which might have been free of COVID-19 and in full operation, and even if the tour operator was still ready to provide the package, a traveller from the Czech Republic would be unable to use the package because the Government does not allow him or her to travel. Should the tour operator terminate the package because the traveller cannot use it? Probably not, because nothing prevents the operator from performing the package. Moreover, it is the performance, and not the consumption, of a package which matters in terms of the wording of Article 12 PTD. In this case, are the consequences to be borne by the traveller? Shall he or she withdraw and pay the termination fees? This scenario has been relevant for

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