Tourism Law in Europe

An Overview of Tourism Law in the UK Sarah Prager 1 1. Introduction; 2. Package Tourism: The Package Travel and Linked Package Arrangements Regulations 2018; 3. Carriage by Air: Montreal Convention; 4. Carriage by Sea: Athens Convention; 5. Hotels and Caterers; 6. Brexit; 7. COVID-19; 8. Conclusions. 1. Introduction The United Kingdom comprises three entirely separate legal systems: England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Although similar, the laws applicable in the different jurisdictions are, for cultural and historical reasons, not identical. The policy considerations behind those laws are very similar, however, and the UK’s membership of the European Union, at least until recently, has led to greater harmonisation of law between the countries which make up the nation state. It remains to be seen whether Brexit will lead to greater fragmentation between jurisdictions or not; but it is clear that the law is in a state of flux at time of writing, with some EU law retained, but whole swathes, for example in relation to jurisdictional matters, discarded (Regulation (EU) 1215/20212 – ‘recast Brussels’ – no longer governs jurisdiction in the UK; but Regulation (EC) 864/2007 – ‘Rome II’ – has been retained and continues to govern matters of applicable law). The UK legal systems are all common law precedent-based systems, with very little by way of codification of civil law, but tourism is an area which is highly regulated, and so the primary sources of UK tourism law are legislative, with the judicial interpretation of those sources being a further, secondary, aid to understanding. A full and complete treatment of UK tourism law requires an entire book in itself, and is beyond the scope of this chapter; rather a summary will be given of the general legal principles applicable in 1 Barrister at 1 Chancery Lane specialising in travel law; Chairwoman of the Travel and Tourism Lawyers Association.