Ensuring a high-level of consumer protection remains one of the EU’s priority policy areas, encompassing citizens’ solidarity rights arising from the Article 38 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The tourism sector remains a principal area of the EU’s internal market, and EU citizens using tourism services acquire consumer status under EU law. Ensuring the legitimate interests of tourists as consumers of tourism services and protecting the violated rights of tourists continues to be a relevant research subject of legal practice and scientific debate. This article examines the significance of promoting and protecting “the right to information” for tourists, emphasizing the role and impact of the implementation of this right in ensuring transparent, fair and safe use of tourism services by citizens. Although the EU has adopted a system of various regulations to ensure the protection of tourists’ rights as consumers, it is challenge for the Member States to apply and transpose these legislations into national laws. The raised scientific problem is based on the hypothesis of which legal measures to establish and how to apply them to ensure the implementation of the right to information for consumers of tourism services. By combining qualitative research methods such as desk review of existing EU and national legislation, hermeneutic and contextual analysis of legal documents, critical appraisal and problem solving in examining regulatory practices, and empirical data, the analysis of which will allow to assess the trends of consumer protection and the correlation between the implementation of the right to information of the consumer of tourism services and its protection practice against possible violations. The research paper discloses a conceptual approach of the consumer’s right to information, obligations and responsibility of businesses to provide clear and comprehensive information about the tourism services to customers, the role of the Member States in applying resilience measures to protect consumers’ rights in the EU tourism market. The research findings show that, first, despite the existing legal regulations (substantive law), consumers of tourism services often face significant challenges related with the access to clear, accurate, safe and transparent information from tourism service providers; second, gaps and inconsistencies in the application practice of EU laws hinder the effective implementation of the tourists’ right to information as consumers (procedural law), and, third, constant violations of consumer rights impedes the development of an effective legal system for the defence of consumers rights in the tourism market. The main recommendation includes the establishment of uniform legal criteria in tourism service contracts, clearly defining the requirements for the content of pre-contractual and contractual information provided to consumers of such services. Consequently, empowering tourists with the right to be informed not only protects consumers’ fundamental rights, but also promotes trust and sustainability in the EU tourism sector.

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Challenges of Ensuring the Implementation of Consumers’ Right to Information in the EU Tourism Services Market

  • Raimundas Kalesnykas

摘要

Ensuring a high-level of consumer protection remains one of the EU’s priority policy areas, encompassing citizens’ solidarity rights arising from the Article 38 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The tourism sector remains a principal area of the EU’s internal market, and EU citizens using tourism services acquire consumer status under EU law. Ensuring the legitimate interests of tourists as consumers of tourism services and protecting the violated rights of tourists continues to be a relevant research subject of legal practice and scientific debate. This article examines the significance of promoting and protecting “the right to information” for tourists, emphasizing the role and impact of the implementation of this right in ensuring transparent, fair and safe use of tourism services by citizens. Although the EU has adopted a system of various regulations to ensure the protection of tourists’ rights as consumers, it is challenge for the Member States to apply and transpose these legislations into national laws. The raised scientific problem is based on the hypothesis of which legal measures to establish and how to apply them to ensure the implementation of the right to information for consumers of tourism services. By combining qualitative research methods such as desk review of existing EU and national legislation, hermeneutic and contextual analysis of legal documents, critical appraisal and problem solving in examining regulatory practices, and empirical data, the analysis of which will allow to assess the trends of consumer protection and the correlation between the implementation of the right to information of the consumer of tourism services and its protection practice against possible violations. The research paper discloses a conceptual approach of the consumer’s right to information, obligations and responsibility of businesses to provide clear and comprehensive information about the tourism services to customers, the role of the Member States in applying resilience measures to protect consumers’ rights in the EU tourism market. The research findings show that, first, despite the existing legal regulations (substantive law), consumers of tourism services often face significant challenges related with the access to clear, accurate, safe and transparent information from tourism service providers; second, gaps and inconsistencies in the application practice of EU laws hinder the effective implementation of the tourists’ right to information as consumers (procedural law), and, third, constant violations of consumer rights impedes the development of an effective legal system for the defence of consumers rights in the tourism market. The main recommendation includes the establishment of uniform legal criteria in tourism service contracts, clearly defining the requirements for the content of pre-contractual and contractual information provided to consumers of such services. Consequently, empowering tourists with the right to be informed not only protects consumers’ fundamental rights, but also promotes trust and sustainability in the EU tourism sector.