The Government has published its response to the consultation which ran from August to September last year on the revised Package Travel Directive (2015). In brief, the revised PTD seeks to update the 1990 Directive and put in place further protection for consumers to cover new and modern methods of buying package holidays.
The new regulations will come into force on 1 July 2018, and the Government’s intention is for a light-touch approach to implementation that will impose minimal additional burdens on businesses, whilst enabling the UK to comply with the requirements of PTD 2015.
Whilst welcoming the additional protection for consumers, UKinbound, the Tourism Alliance, and other industry bodies have asked Government to consider the mandatory inclusion of travel in the definition of a package, or exclude value-added products from the scope of the regulations, as these could impose an unnecessary financial and regulatory burden on many of our members. Chief Executive Deirdre Wells also pressed the case for this ask in a recent roundtable at the Department for Business, Energy and industrial Strategy.
Unfortunately this requirement has not been included in the new regulations, however Government have committed to undertaking a review of this issue after 6 and 12 months so there will be another opportunity to put forward our case on behalf of domestic and inbound tourism businesses.
The Government’s full response can be viewed here.
