Tourism Law in Europe

Court of Appeal and Supreme Court retain the ability to refer questions to the CJEU, where they consider it necessary to do so. In other ways, of course, Brexit changes everything. Further EU legislation will not be binding on the UK, and the UK government of the day will choose whether to promote harmonisation between the EU and UK by voluntarily adopting it, or, as appears at present more likely, to diverge from the bloc by either adapting it or ignoring it altogether. The full deharmonising effect of Brexit is therefore likely to increase as time goes on, and as EU and UK legislation diverges in ways impossible to predict at present. 7. COVID-19 The year 2020 was not just notable for Exit Day on 31 December, of course; the other dominant theme in the tourism sector, as in all areas of life, has been the Covid-19 pandemic, and the measures taken to contain it. The UK government imposed some of the strictest lockdown measures in the world, as a result of which for much of 2020 and early 2021 the tourism industry came to a complete standstill. Estimates vary, but the industry is thought to have lost some £40billion, or €47billion, an unimaginable sum. At time of writing it is still uncertain whether the Summer 2021 season can be saved, following the decimation of the Summer 2020, Winter 2020, and Spring 2021 seasons. It is too early to draw any conclusions about the response of the UK courts to the pandemic and its effect on the industry. There are presently a very large number of cases proceeding through the courts, many of which raise issues around cancellation and refunding under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 1998 and Regulation (EC) 261/2004 (the ‘Denied Boarding Regulation’), which remains in force notwithstanding Brexit. Cancellation of touristic services not falling within these Regulations are governed by the general provisions to be found in s.1(2) of the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943, which provides that any contractual pre- payments are recoverable: “(…) All sums paid or payable to any party in pursuance of the contract before the time when the parties were so discharged…shall, in the case of sums so paid, be recoverable from him (…)”. However “(…) if the party to whom the sums were so paid or payable incurred expenses before the time of discharge in, or for the purpose of, the performance of the contract, the court may, if it considers it just to do so having