THE ITALIAN INTERVENTION 207 4. POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS AND CONCLUSIONS Considering the situation as a whole, it is clear that the intervention made by the Italian Government, despite having attempted to balance the interests of the parties, has perhaps favoured the objective of trying to avoid the bankruptcy of operators in extreme economic and financial difficulty. The efforts and targets can be achieved, always with difficulty, especially through economic financing policies and direct economic support to operators and families. Nonetheless, and returning to the standard under consideration, it is clear that, on the traveller’s side, recognising he cannot dispose of his own money, then return to the situation prior to the contract stipulation, some improvements related to the voucher could be done. For instance, an aspect that could be changed in this sense concerns the end of the voucher: one year from its issue, maybe it is not enough. Is this a sufficiently long term that allows travellers to freely choose to leave or will they soon find themselves still unable to benefit from the service for reasons not attributable to them and relating to the destination, or the general situation? Or, given the high level of an economic crisis that will affect everyone, will they not be in the economic possibility of benefiting from the service, for example only because they have no more vacation days available since they have all been “enjoyed” during the virus restrictions? Will the traveller have the guarantee that the prices of the services he intends to purchase with the vouchers will be in line with those he had to give up, or will they be much higher? Will the operator still be on the market or would he have had to go out of business? Therefore, some reflections could perhaps be made. On the one hand, a possibility is to extend the terms of effectiveness of the voucher for a period longer than a year, or one year after the cessation of restrictive measures linked to COVID-19; on the other, making the voucher amount usable on different and multiple trips, especially considering high-value vouchers. Moreover, it should be taken into account the introduction of special protections for the weaker categories of travellers, as well as giving the traveller due assurances regarding the non-increase in prices, i.e. guaranteeing him the same spending power and on giving the right guarantees regarding the usability of the trip, should the operator have ceased operations. The adoption of all these measures can, unfortunately, be made in the full awareness that, given the tenor of the current crisis, it will be difficult to balance interests without creating situations of even greater poverty on all fronts.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==