304 LEGAL IMPACTS OF COVID-19 IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY In Spain, article 12 was transposed in the same terms in article 160 of the Revised Text of the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of 16 November, modified by Royal Decree-Law 23/2018 of 21 December 2018 on the transposition of directives on trademarks, rail transport and package travel and linked travel services9. This being the case, it is here where the travel agencies with which the traveler contracted the package are protagonists. The main characteristic of a package is that there is one trader responsible as an organiser for the proper performance of the package as a whole. Only in cases where another trader is acting as the organiser of a package should a trader, typically a high street or online travel agent, be able to act as a mere retailer or intermediary and not be liable as an organiser. It should be noted that, although initially the responsibility rests with the organiser, Directive 2015/2302 also places the responsibility on retailers in two cases: if the national law applicable to the contract so establishes it [art. 13(1)] and when the organiser is established outside the European Economic Area (art. 20). In Spain, the Revised Text of the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users regulates the joint and several liability of the organisers and retailers that concur jointly in the package travel contract, when there is a breach in its execution, reserving the right of repetition against whoever is responsible for the breach or defective performance of the contract10. This implies that most of the claims are directed to travel agencies, whether online or traditional, which are currently bearing the burden of claims, regardless of the right of repetition that they have against the breach or defective fulfillment of the contract, that is, mostly hotels and airlines. What is the complaint of travel agencies in the face of the COVID-19 crisis? Its main complaint is the lack of liquidity to comply with the reimbursement provided for in Directive (EU) 2015/2302 and transpositions to legal systems. Take for example a package travel that a travel agency organized before the pandemic, which included a hotel and flight. Once the health crisis breaks out, the airline communicates that the flights are canceled and, however, the travel agency has already transferred the payment of the ticket to the airline, so the travel agency does not have that money. The travel agency informs that client 9 BOE no. 91, 01.04.2020; Texto refundido de la Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios y otras leyes complementarias, aprobado por el Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2007, de 16 de noviembre, modificado por el Real Decretoley 23/2018, de 21 de diciembre, de transposición de directivas en materia de marcas, transporte ferroviario y viajes combinados y servicios de viaje vinculados. 10 Vid, S. Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, Viajes combinados y servicios de viajes vinculados (Directiva (UE) 2015/2302. Cuestiones de ley aplicable, cit., 2018, p. 92.
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