After the bankruptcy of travel operator Thomas Cook, thousands of customers feared that they would be left sitting on their money. A new law should rule this out in the future.
Berlin (dpa) - As a lesson from the Thomas Cook bankruptcy, the federal government wants to protect travelers in the event of bankruptcy with a fund in the future.
Only tour operators who pay into this common pot should offer package tours in the future. The cabinet in Berlin has accepted a corresponding proposal from the Federal Ministry of Justice. Consumer advocates welcomed the plans. The travel industry, which was hit hard by the Corona crisis, warned of additional burdens.
At the moment, insurers of travel providers can limit their liability for reimbursements to 110 million euros per financial year, which the ministry says always does.
In the future, there should be no limitation of liability for travel providers or their insurers, so that huge sums of damage will be covered in future and will not have to be borne by the taxpayer. "This ensures comprehensive protection for travelers," said Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD).
As a security, travel providers must set aside sums, the amount of which is based on their creditworthiness. If a company has to file for bankruptcy, this security should be used first and, if necessary, funds from the common fund, which will be backed up by a state guarantee during the start-up phase. In addition, reinsurance and, if necessary, loan commitments are added.
Consumer advocates welcomed the plans. "The cornerstones are the right step, so that package travelers will be better protected against the insolvency of a travel provider in the future," said the head of the Federal Consumer Association (vzbv), Klaus Müller.
The fund should secure at least 20 percent of an organizer's previous year's turnover. As the bankruptcy of the Corona crisis threatened many insolvencies, the new law should come into force in the summer, added Müller.
In view of the difficult situation in the industry due to the Corona crisis, the DRV travel association called for "a moderate transition from the old to the new system that travel companies can manage." Extended coverage represents "an additional significant financial challenge for tour operators that will be difficult to solve in the short term," said DRV President Norbert Fiebig.
The background to the plans is the bankruptcy of the tour operator Thomas Cook last year. The sum insured of 110 million euros was only enough to settle a fraction of the claims of the vacationers concerned.
The federal government stood in for the rest. The Ministry of Justice processes the damages via specially set up internet portals. Within a month, 60,000 Thomas Cook customers applied for help from the state there. Around 50,000 of these applications are currently being examined, a ministry spokeswoman told the "Tagesspiegel". In other cases, not all documents were available. Registrations are still possible until November.
The new bankruptcy rules have so far only been adopted in key points in the cabinet. In the next step, the Ministry of Justice will spell out the details in a draft law, which must then also be approved by the cabinet, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
Key points decided by the cabinet