Tourism Law in Europe

3 A similar fate has befallen travel agencies 7 , since, following a decision of the Constitutional Court 8 , the regions are in charge of the relevant regime, conforming to the principles of the EC Directive 2006/123 and providing for streamlined procedures. On the whole, following the amendment of Article 117 of the Constitution in 2001, the regulation of tourism is no longer entrusted solely to the State but, to a large extent, to the regions, which do not abandon the public discipline, but adapt it to their own local peculiarities; there is always a power to shape the market to safeguard consumers, but with a view to regional interests. This can break up regulation into various models, often with the opposite outcome to that hoped for, as travellers or those looking after their interests may find themselves confused when faced with different approaches. For example, a classification of hotels based on ‘stars’ where the allocation varies according to the parameters used by each region. Title Six of the Tourism Code is more straightforward, as it is dedicated to the contract for the purchase of a package, and there are no particular deviations from European principles. Many provisions have been amended by Legislative Decree No 62 of 2018, implementing the EU Directive / 2015 / 2302, which repealed the previous Cee Directive / 1990 / 314. Thus, certain profiles have been better defined, such as the liability of the intermediary and that of the operator and, explicitly, the Code equates the former to an agent 9 . So-called hospitality contracts do not fall within the scope of the Code because, in Italian law, they are largely atypical agreements and therefore are not expressly regulated. This category includes restaurant 10 and hotel 11 agreements. For the latter, only the liability of 7 See Righi, Le autorizzazioni per l’esercizio dell’attività di agenzia di viaggio: orientamento e principi comunitari, in Riv. it. dir. pubbl. com., 1995, 1412 et seq .; Bonaretti - Manuzzi, Il contratto di viaggio turistico e le agenzie di viaggio, ed. II, Rimini, 1997, 54 et seq .; G. Mor, La Corte, la legge regionale e l’impresa: il caso delle agenzie di viaggio, in Le reg., 1999, 319 et seq . 8 See Constitutional Court 5 April 2012, no. 80, cit. 9 See Article 50 of the Tourism Code. 10 See Malavasi , Contratti e responsabilità nell’attività di ristorazione, Rimini, 2005, 39 et seq .; Ciurnelli, Contratti per la somministrazione di cibi e bevande, in Aa. Vv., I nuovi contratti nella prassi civile e commerciale, edited by Cendon, Turin, 2004, vol. VII, 356 onwards. 11 See Fragali, Albergo (contratto di) , in Enc. dir., vol. I, 969 et seq ; Funaioli, Albergatore, albergo, in Noviss seq. dig. it., vol. I, 439 onwards; Carnevali - Bonilini, La responsabilità dell’albergatore, in Nuove leggi civ. comm., 1979, 127 onwards; Geri, La responsabilità civile dell’albergatore, Milan, 1979, 45 onwards; Gragnoli, Considerazioni sul contratto di albergo, in Aa. Vv., Dai tipi legali ai modelli sociali nella contrattualistica della navigazione, dei trasporti e del turismo, edited by Silingardi - Antonini - Morandi,