shifted entirely in favor of the consumer; the tourist is not required to prove that the hotel staff stole the item or acted negligently. The mere factual occurrence of the loss within the hotel’s spatial domain is legally sufficient to trigger the operator’s financial liability. Any warning signs posted in the lobby, placards placed in the hotel rooms, or fine-print clauses buried in the reservation contract stating that “The hotel management accepts no responsibility for lost, stolen, or damaged items” are deemed absolutely null and void (kesin hükümsüz)32. This mandatory provision ensures that the liability safety net constructed by the state cannot be arbitrarily bypassed by the commercial provider’s standardized texts. 5.2. Obligations of the Tour Operator The tour operator, as one of the central actors in modern mass tourism, is the subject that combines multiple travel components (such as transportation, accommodation, transfers, and guiding services) into a single package and offers them to the consumer. Pursuant to Article 51 of the Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 (TKHK) and the Package Tour Contracts Regulation issued based on this provision, the legal position of the tour operator differs fundamentally from classical agency or intermediary relationships under the Code of Obligations. The legislator imposes on the tour operator a direct, primary, and aggravated regime of objective liability (strict liability) to ensure that all services included in the contract are performed properly, even if executed by third-party subcontractors.33 In this context, the legal structure of the operator is built upon the duty of pre-contractual and contractual information, its position in the event of contractual modifications, and the impact of force majeure on liability. 5.3. Medical Tourism: Obligations of Hospitals, Doctors, and Intermediaries The burgeoning field of medical tourism represents a sophisticated, highstakes intersection of tourism law and health law. In this ecosystem, the service provider is not merely a hospitality entity but a healthcare practitioner or institution, and the “guest” is a patient, creating a legal relationship characterized by intensified duties of care, strict professional liability, and transnational 32 Tuğçem Seçer, “Otel Sözleşmelerinde Rezervasyonun Yapılması, İptali ve Neticeleri”, Başkent Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi, 5/2 (2019): 295 33 Yasemin Güllüoğlu & Ahmet Onur Gani, “Türk Hukuku Açısından Paket Tur Sözleşmesi”, ASBÜ Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi, 2024/2: 1310 17 TRAVEL AND TOURISM LAW IN TÜRKIYE
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