70 TOURISM LAW IN EUROPE Belgian tourism will hopefully recover quickly. Gradually, European and international borders are being reopened, and more and more activities in Belgium are open to the public, notably thanks to the vaccine and the use of the COVID Safe Ticket (a document that proves total vaccination or a negative PCR test within 72 hours). Particularly in Brussels, the aim now is to reassure the general public and give an additional boost to the resumption of activities. In the first instance, plans for action with the national Belgian public will be launched to revitalise the capital. Then, the focus will be on foreign visitors. 3. LEGAL FRAMEWORK 3.1. Background This chapter traces the history of the legal texts that governed the sale of package travel. Such a quick leap into the past is important in order to understand the intricacies of the new law governing the subject in Belgium. Tourism regulation, as it exists today in Europe, has its origins, to some extent, in Belgium. Indeed, it was in Brussels that the International Convention on Travel Contracts (better known by its abbreviation, “the CCV”) was adopted on 23 April 1970, at Belgium’s initiative. The merit of the CCV was that it was the first attempt to regulate the legal relationship between travellers, intermediaries and travel organisers at an international level. Unfortunately, it was not as successful as expected, as only a limited number of States signed it (which demonstrates the lack of interest for tourism regulation at that time) but it did regulate the Belgian travel market for over twenty years. Above all, it was an the main source of inspiration for the European Directive of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours, and still survives today through the European Directive of 25 November 2015, which is now in force. The adoption of the Directive of 13 June 1990 was a decisive step towards the unification of tourism law. It sought to impose new regulations in the EU Member States, with a view to harmonising the content of travel contracts, the principles of liability of intermediaries and organisers, the settlement of disputes and the guarantees of solvency of the travel agent. However, at the time, the European legislator opted for minimal harmonisation. As a result, the Member States transposed the Directive into their national law in sometimes very different ways, which explains the disparities that existed in Europe, for example, in the area of travel agents’ liability, and which considerably complicated cross-border travel purchases. Belgium transposed the 1990 Directive into
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