In point g), the optional “may” is replaced by an affirmative “right” to terminate the package travel contract at any time before the start of the package, subject to the payment of an appropriate and justifiable termination fee. This is a cornerstone of consumer law, also affirmed in the travel contract. The revision adds “justifiable,” meaning that, in the absence of a standardised cancellation fee, the organiser has the burden of demonstrating the costs actually incurred, i.e., that the airline did not refund the ticket, that the seat was not occupied by another customer, or that the hotel did not charge for the stay. It seems that travellers can prove that the organiser suffered less damage than alleged, or even that no damage occurred. For example, for departures and returns from the Caribbean with a stay at hotel X, all seats were sold at the same price. Following the Tuk Tuk case, it is added that the traveller, under Article 12(2), has the right to terminate the package travel contract without paying any termination fee if unavoidable and exceptional circumstances arise, as occurred with COVID-19. V. PRE-CONTRACTUAL INFORMATION FOR BOOKING SERVICES THAT DO NOT LEAD TO THE CREATION OF A PACKAGE The additions to Articles 1 and 2 relating to the new non-category, that is, situations that do not lead to the creation of a package, are developed in the new Article 5a, which governs pre-contractual information in specific booking situations, as follows from its heading. The legislator makes an exception to Article 23, which mandates the application of the guarantee regime to packages, despite the organiser’s fraudulent declaration that the services sold do not constitute a package (no. 1) and the non-waivable nature of the rights reserved to the traveller by the NPTD (no. 2). Article 5a describes a situation in which the operator, after the purchase (in person or remotely, the law does not distinguish) of a service, invites the traveller to purchase an additional type of travel service for the same trip or holiday. It cannot include two different travel services5 (transport, accommodation or vehicle rental), because in that case a package is automatically created. Either a travel service contemplated [points a) to c)] is combined, successively and independently of the order, with another tourist service [point d)] or it is exclusively the latter. 5 Article 3 (1). 15 THE REVISION OF THE NEW PACKAGE TRAVEL DIRECTIVE
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