COLLABORATIVE TOURISM ACTIVITIES 249 So much so that, under the umbrella of the collaborative economy or collaborative tourism, it seems that anyone who is in a position to provide a service to the tourists they receive in their municipality can do so and, subsequently, offer it on the market through digital platforms, regardless of whether they are professionals or individuals56. In any case, if the relationship is between professionals and consumers, the consumer rules will be applied to the legal relationship that arises. If, on the other hand, the relationship established is between equals (C2C), the rules contained in the CC for the performance of the contract and the possible responsibilities in case of damage to the tourist will be applicable. VI. FINAL NOTES By way of conclusion, and relating what has been said to the advances made in the introduction to this work, it is necessary to indicate the opportunity that the commitment to the collaborative economy represents today in order to contribute to the relaunching and consolidation of a large part of the tourism sector in the post-crisis era due to the COVID-19. Indeed, it has been shown how economic savings in the most critical expenses, such as transport and accommodation, have served in the past to distribute tourist spending in the destination, so that they benefit other sectors as relevant to tourism development as restaurants, leisure, car rental, among others57. A firm commitment to a collaborative economy would help to consolidate these other sectors, usually explored by SMEs, which are not finding adequate support in the large measures that the State is adopting to safeguard the tourism sector. These measures are focused, above all, on protecting the large operators from possible insolvency, as well as trying to safeguard jobs in sectors such as transport and accommodation58. It is precisely along these lines that the legal nature of these platforms is of vital importance and, above all, in close correspondence with them, the relationship that arises between suppliers and applicants, since the security of 56 Ibidem, p. 45. 57 See, among otherss ZERVAS, G., PROSERPIO, D., & BYERS, J., “The Rise of the Sharing Economy: Estimating the Impact of Airbnb on the Hotel Industry”, Journal of Marketing Research, October 2017, pp. 687-705; as well as EUGENIO-MARTIN J., & INCHAUSTI-SINTES, F., “Low-cost travel and tourism expenditures”, Annals of Tourism Research, no. 57, 2015, pp. 140-159. 58 See, among them, that referring to organisers and retailers of package tours (Art. 36.4 of Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of 31 March, adopting additional urgent measures in the social and economic sphere to deal with COVID-19).
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