Package travel: Stronger rights for travellers and simpler rules for the travel industry

On 27 May, important amendments to the Package Travel Directive enter into force. The new rules adopted by the European Parliament and the Council strengthen traveller rights and improve legal certainty for the package travel sector, which is largely made up of SMEs and micro-enterprises. 

The updated Directive introduces clearer rules in particular for crisis situations, including cancellations, refunds and insolvency protection. There will be clarity on the use of vouchers instead of a refund, including the requirement of the traveller’s express consent, an automatic refund where a voucher is not redeemed, and insolvency protection for open refunds. Travellers will be entitled to a response to complaints within 60 days and to reimbursement of their payments within six months when a package organiser becomes insolvent. The deletion of linked travel arrangements, a category between packages and stand-alone travel services, will bring about significant simplification, doing away with five information forms, while travellers will receive clear information on whether they are booking a package holiday or stand-alone travel services. 

Member states will have 28 months to transpose the new rules into national law, and these will become binding on operators six months later. In its notice of 8 May 2026 - Guidance clarifying certain EU rules applicable to passengers and transport operators in light of the current reduced supply of jet fuel from the Middle East - the Commission called on package organisers to start applying the new rules on vouchers on a voluntary basis before they become legally binding on them, including in the current crisis.

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