178 LEGAL IMPACTS OF COVID-19 IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY immediate payment of the consideration, with a strong discount, however, which should compensate the risk of businesses closing down. This strategy was devised in the United States and it could be applied in Italy, although campaigns of this type have not yet been launched (as of 6 April 2020). The analogy with the provisions of the Decree-Law No. 19 of 2020 is evident, and the solution is legitimate, from the Italian private law point of view, and ingenious, on a commercial level. Nonetheless, only high-quality companies (which therefore apply high prices) can operate in this context because, failing that, the discount would have little meaning. With personalised offers and the use of telematics resource, such a proposal, addressed to the most loyal customers, could have excellent chances for success. 5. THE TRAVEL INTERMEDIARY As a matter of fact, Art. 28, paragraph 4, of the Decree-Law No. 9 of 2020 provides that the carrier can either return the amount paid or issue the so-called “voucher” also to the intermediary for the transport contracts concluded by them on behalf of the customers. These should have undertaken travel in the so-called quarantine, home-stay or hospitalisation periods, being now subject to and for those transport contracts departing or arriving in Italy, which have been automatically terminated by law. The standard identifies all creditors of the service and wants to ensure that the intermediary is also included among them, with a completely reasonable solution. Italian law consistently qualifies travel intermediaries entered with the customer as an agency contract, and the user must give the intermediary the assets necessary for execution, pursuant to Art. 1719 of Civil Code. If the object of the assignment is the purchase of a tourist package, the intermediary's position is more complex, because his relationship with the traveller remains idle, but there is also another relationship with the organiser. According to a consolidated law approach, “from the moment the agent receives payment from the customer, they also act as agent of the organiser, from whom they are paid the commissions” (see Court of Cassation 8 October, 2009 No. 21388). Therefore, on the one hand, if the agent must pay back to the organiser the amounts the consumer has paid, by virtue of the relationship that binds them to the latter, at the same time, as the agent's agent, he is entitled to commissions for a successful performance. For tourist packages sold before the restrictions were enacted – but influenced by the unforeseeable circumstances –, the intermediary can benefit
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