New EU rule to protect online holiday bookings
New measures are being introduced to protect people who organise their own holidays instead of using travel agents.
People who organise their own holidays are not covered by the European Union’s Package Travel Protection.
Figures from last year show that almost half of Irish people are now booking and organising their own holidays, instead of going through a travel agent.
But today, new measures were to be announced in Galway aimed at protecting people if their airline collapses or they run into other difficulties while on holidays on a trip organised by themselves.
The EU commissioner for Consumer Affairs Meglena Kuneva was in the city today where she was due to announce an overhaul of the Package Travel Protection.
The measures are aimed at protecting those who have booked their holidays online.
Ms Kuneva said the existing protection was brought in during the 1990s when people were typically going through travel agencies to book holidays from brochures.
Now, however, many people are opting to go online to book accommodation, flights and events.
As well as catering for people whose airline collapses while they are on holidays, the measures will also protect those whose accommodation is not as described, and substandard service or car hire.
