Corona was an ordeal for tourism. Hotels closed, travelers canceled their vacations. In certain cases, the ECJ is now giving consumers hope of compensation.
The ECJ has strengthened consumers’ hopes of getting their money back in certain cases after the insolvency of their tour operator. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg ruled that insurance against the insolvency of a tour operator can also apply if the consumer cancels their trip due to “unavoidable and exceptional circumstances and the tour operator becomes insolvent after this cancellation”.
There is no reason to treat travellers whose holiday is cancelled because the tour operator is bankrupt any differently than travellers who have cancelled their trip due to “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”. EU law stipulates that a consumer who does not take their package holiday due to “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” is entitled to a full refund.
The background to the ruling are cases from Belgium and Austria – in both cases, the people affected had canceled their trips planned for 2020 because of the Covid pandemic. Shortly afterwards, the tour operator went bankrupt. In the Austrian case, the consumers then sued HDI, the tour operator’s insurer. According to the court, HDI objected that it did not have to reimburse anything because the trip was canceled because of Corona and not because of the insolvency. The ECJ did not follow this argument. HDI has not yet commented on the current ruling.
In both cases, national courts must now make a final decision, taking into account the ECJ ruling. According to EU law, member states must ensure that package holidaymakers are fully protected against the insolvency of the tour operator.
Source: Stern
