ECTAA challenges the European Parliament’s draft report on the Package Travel Directive. While the Council adopted a well-balanced position in December 2024, the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators Association (ECTAA) strongly objects to the European Parliament’s draft report released on 26 February, arguing that it fails to address any industry concerns and could destabilise the sector.

Brussels, 27 February 2025. ECTAA has expressed its astonishment at the draft report by MEP Agius Saliba on the revision of the Package Travel Directive. Described as “staggering and disconnected” from industry realities, the report disregards the serious concerns raised by market players about key aspects of the initial proposal. Rather than improving consumer protection and ensuring the stability of the sector, it represents a missed opportunity for meaningful and balanced reform.

ECTAA raised concerns over the lack of in-depth dialogue with stakeholders. Consultations were

reduced to a mere formality, with official hearings allowing barely five minutes per speaker —hardly sufficient for discussing such critical issues. “We participated in good faith, hoping to contribute to aconstructive reform. Unfortunately, our concerns were completely ignored,” regrets Eric Drésin, Secretary General of ECTAA.

Legal uncertainty and unworkable definitions

The draft report worsens the issue of defining a package by extending it to include two sales made on the same website within 72 hours. This approach creates significant uncertainty, as traders will be unable to determine whether a booked travel service is a standalone service or part of a package until the 72-hour period has passed. Consumers, in turn, will be left uncertain about their rights and protections at the time of purchase. This lack of clarity will disrupt business operations across the entire travel value chain, affecting both package tour operators and providers of standalone services, ultimately threatening established business models.

Prepayment restrictions: a danger for organisers’ liquidity

Limiting prepayments for package travel adds yet another burden on organisers who already protect customers’ money against insolvency. Contrary to expectations, restricting advance payments will not reduce insolvency risks but will instead weaken operators financially, particularly in the first half of the year. The exceptions to the proposed 25% prepayment cap are insufficient to mitigate the liquidity challenges as they don’t consider fixed costs such as salaries, building or energy costs. “If the goal is truly to protect consumers, why not ensure prepayments are safeguarded across all travel services rather than singling out tour operators?” questions Eric Drésin.

A Call for a Balanced and Practical Reform

The package Travel directive represents less than 15% of the travel services sold on the EU market, a sharp drop from the 40% accounted in 2013, before the first revision of the Directive. The European Commission’s and MEP Saliba’s favouring a disproportionate, worst-case-scenario-proof legislation is misguided. Instead of imposing additional constraints on tour operators, a more effective approach would be to improve the protection of 85% of EU consumers using standalone services that do not benefit from similar standards. By adopting such an approach, fewer and fewer travellers will use packages and its increasingly costly protection to go on holiday.

ECTAA urges a fundamental revision of the report, taking into account economic realities and the views of the tourism industry stakeholders. The PTD revision must strike the right balance—offering high consumer protection while keeping the market attractive and functional.

About ECTAA

ECTAA represents the interests of 80,000 travel agents and tour operators in Europe, which provide consultancy and sell transport, accommodation, leisure and other tourism services as well as combined products to leisure and business customers.