314 LEGAL IMPACTS OF COVID-19 IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY scheme underwrote the biggest peacetime repatriation in British history. The collapse of Thomas Cook cost the scheme approximately £500 million, and the cumulative cost could yet exceed the £570 million in assets and insurance available to the scheme through its parent fund, the Air Travel Trust Fund. Once the ATOL’s available assets and coverage are exhausted, the UK government must step in to meet any outstanding liability. The Association of British Insurers has calculated that travel insurers in the UK could face at least £275 million of claims owing to COVID-19, for holidays and trips that could not be fulfilled due to cancellations or general travel restrictions. To put this into perspective, the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption in Iceland, in 2010, resulted in £62 million of payments, a record at that time. At the time of writing, the author is unaware of any claims having been issued as against British tour operators or others within the industry in the courts of England and Wales. However, the experience of other countries suggests that it is only a matter of time before claims are intimated. 3.1. Claims under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 In the first month after the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s announcement that consumers should avoid all but essential travel abroad, some two million overseas package holidays were due to take place. All were cancelled, at an estimated cost to the industry of £1 billion. UK tour operators owe an obligation under Regulation 13 of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (and now Regulation 13 of the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018) to refund holidaymakers’ money where a package holiday is cancelled. There are good arguments concerning the applicability of the former, earlier legislation in the current situation, because no refund is due where the package is cancelled by reason of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond the control of the tour operator, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised. Arguably a global pandemic would satisfy even the most consumer-friendly reading of this provision. However, the later Regulations, which apply to holidays booked after 1st July 2018, contain no such defence. Indeed, Regulation 14 goes further and provides for a full refund to be provided to the traveller, no later than 14 days after the termination of the contract. It is this provision which has caused, and continues to cause, so much consternation within the industry. On 20 March, the European Commission updated its guidance on the regulatory position,
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