Holidaymakers who were left disappointed by the cancellation of their package holidays due to Covid could be entitled to a partial refund.
This is according to the European Union’s highest court which weighed in on the issue on Thursday after being probed on the topic in Germany.
The court in Munich is currently dealing with a case of two people who purchased a two-week package holiday to Gran Canaria.
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They were due to jet off on March 13, 2020 just as the pandemic was beginning to cause widespread cancellations.
The two people involved are asking for a 70% reduction in the price because of restrictions imposed two days later which led to their early return.
When the restrictions were brought in on March 15, beaches were shut, a curfew was put in place and the plaintiffs were not allowed to leave their hotel room unless going to eat, the EU court said.
On March 18, they were told to be ready to leave at any moment, and two days after that they had to return to Germany.
The tour operator refused the requested reduction on the grounds that it could not be held liable for a “general life risk”.
The EU court said: “A traveller is entitled to a reduction in the price of his or her package where a lack of conformity of the travel services included in the package is due to restrictions that have been imposed at the travel destination to fight the spread of an infectious disease, such as Covid-19.”
It said it does not matter if similar restrictions are imposed at the traveller’s place of residence or in other countries.
The German court will have to assess whether the restrictions in the specific case “could constitute failures to perform or improper performances” of the contract by the tour organiser.
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