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EU travel directive inches closer

Source: Tourism Update, 09/01/2017

A hearing on a new directive that threatens to entrench the power of
Germanyâ€™s dominant tour operators, will take place later this month
A hearing on the revised EU Package Travel Directive (PTD), which
prevents independent travel agents from compiling customised travel
arrangements with products sourced from different suppliers, takes
place in Germany on January 23.

For more on the directive, see our previous story here. The directive
will apply to all countries in the European Union.

The controversial directive has the potential to entrench the power of
Germanyâ€™s dominant tour operators, reintroduce exclusive agreements
that have been banned in the country since 1994, and force retailers
to take on the liabilities of tour operators.

But eleventh-hour lobbying may yield some tempering of the imminent
legislation. Commented Reinhart Mecklenburg, Director of AfroSales
Tourism Marketing Services in Germany: â€œDespite the rather
unco-ordinated pressure exercised on the German government as well as
on EU representatives in Brussels, it seems to me that our disunited
travel and hospitality trade will eventually be successful in removing
and amending some of the most detrimental regulations.â€

Once finalised, the terms of the new directive are expected to become
national law in March, a development that could coincide with
Germanyâ€™s influential travel trade fair, ITB.

All EU member states are obliged to transpose the directive into law
by January 1, 2018, for application from July 1 next year.

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