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Coronadvice 2 - How to deal with corona-cancellation of packages planned for May and later?
The world has been addressing the topic of coronavirus since the end of January, when the virus first appeared in China. Coronavirus has now spread all over the world. The situation in around the world is changing day by day, hour by hour. Epidemiologists have suggested that the virus could disappear with summer weather. Now, what should a travel agency do when a customer requests a corona-cancellation for a package in May, June, or even September?
Legislation of the package contract stipulates that, as a general rule, the customer may withdraw from the package contract at any time against payment of a reasonable cancellation fee. As we discussed in Coronadvice 1, the customer is not required to pay a cancellation fee if there are extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances prevalent at the place of destination of the package tour, and such circumstances have a significant impact on the provision of the package. For the exemption from the obligation to pay cancellation fees, it is essential that the circumstances affect the provision of the purchased package, and there must be at least some assurance that this will actually be the date for which the customer has purchased the package. At this time, we have no such assurance, but we are confident that hoteliers, airlines, and other businesses around the world will take action at the opportune time. Therefore, at this time, we cannot say exactly when a travel agency is required to refund package prices to Italy scheduled for the beginning of April, May, or beyond.
Therefore, owing to the coronavirus situation, if a customer chooses to withdraw from a package contract starting early May and beyond, this customer will have to pay the travel agency a cancellation. In a future Coronadvice, we will talk about what happens when a customer correctly predicts the situation, and the travel agency will actually have to cancel the planned package in a month or two.
Tomorrow we will talk about whether a travel agency can offer a substitute term, and the pitfalls associated with it, to a customer who is now afraid to travel or really cannot travel.
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