Giuridico e Amministrativo

🏖 Tatiana Sedlovska, co-founder of GTS Group, criticizes the EU's new directive on travel packages, highlighting a limit on down payments to 25%, with providers often requiring 100% upfront. Concerns also include mandatory trusts for down payments, penalty-free cancellation rights based on simple travel warnings, and fines up to 4% of turnover, posing a heavy burden on companies with narrow profit margins.

🏦 Avoris aims to generate over 50% of its EBITDA outside Spain, up from the current 20%. They are focusing on North Africa and Europe, planning expansions to Morocco and Mexico. They recently renewed a partnership with Cvc, a major Latin American travel consortium, and have opened in the Italian market. The company is also launching operations in France, Romania, Bulgaria, and plans to enter Mexico and the Moroccan market by 2025 under Ávoris. Additionally, they've invested in Travel.land for entry into Iceland and are rationalizing Caribbean brands with a potential merger under Travelplan.

📌 After the US administration's order to tighten immigration checks under Trump, at least three German tourists and a French researcher were detained for two weeks, and a Welsh woman for 19 days with leg chains and handcuffs. Consequently, Germany updated its travel advisory on Wednesday, the UK revised travel recommendations, and travelers from Finland and Denmark were advised to contact the US embassy if passport sex does not match birth sex. Flight Centre Canada reported a 23% decline in Canadian tourists to the US in February and cancellations in favor of other destinations. Oxford Economics predicts a negative tourism growth of -9%, a 14% downturn from the initial 5% growth projection for 2025, potentially leading to a $64 billion loss.

🚀 Enac President Pierluigi Di Palma on March 24 cited an economic benefit of €834,000 for airport operators from reduced costs for airport badge issuance since the start of the year. The cost was lowered to €2 per badge; previously, badges averaged €50 each. Since February 20, the badge issuance became free for operators with 19,040 badge requests processed, leading to the significant savings for airport operators.

🏗️ Alessandro Onorato, Rome's Tourism Councillor, confirms the diversification of tourism with the "Unexpected Itineraries" project. The initiative includes new flowerbeds, updated tourist signage, a bilingual app (Unexpected.it Rome), and enhanced lighting at the Roman Aquarium for improved accessibility and safety. The project aims to make tourism more sustainable, spotlighting often overlooked historical areas, and to redistribute tourist flows, currently concentrated in the city center.

✈ British Airways resumes daily flights from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur starting April 2. The announcement was made by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and reported by travelmole.com. Initially planned for late last year, the restart was delayed due to engine issues with the Dreamliner aircraft. The route has been inactive since 2021 due to the pandemic.

🤑 During 2019-2024, Tax Free Shopping increased by 8.5%, and Luxury Shopping grew by 5%. Stefano Rizzi and Denise Bolandrina from Global Blue noted that the rebound in travel led to increased personal spending. Despite inflation, 46% of high spenders felt unaffected due to Tax Free Shopping benefits. Europe saw a consistent 16% growth, while the Asia Pacific spiked by 127% in H1 compared to 2019. Italy, the top European shopping destination in 2024, experienced a 15% increase in Tax Free expenditure, attracting 25% American and 10% Arab shoppers. Ready-to-wear dominated with a 34% share, a 12% growth, and an average spend of €1,200, while watches surged by 32%. Tax Free Shopping is evolving towards a diverse spend, now including luxury, premium, and lifestyle brands, up by 39%.

🌊 A tourist submarine, Sindbad, sank this morning in the Red Sea near Hurghada. Onboard were 45 Russian tourists. The incident resulted in 6 deaths, at least 9 injured, and 4 in critical condition; others were rescued without serious harm. Causes remain unclear.

🏖️ In Barcelona, the doubling of tourist taxes could make families pay up to €100 more for a three-night stay. According to preferente.com, the Catalan law allows municipalities to add a surcharge, which in Barcelona's case, was set to €4 per person per night last autumn. The debate is ongoing regarding the allocation of these tax revenues, which legally must be used for promotion, though some parties argue for mitigating tourism's negative effects.

🚢 A tourist submarine, the Sindbad, sank this morning in the Red Sea near Hurghada. Onboard were 45 Russian tourists. The incident resulted in 6 deaths, at least 9 injured, and 4 in critical condition. The remaining passengers were rescued without serious harm. Causes of the sinking are not yet clear.