LUXEMBOURG (dpa-AFX) - The ECJ has strengthened consumers' hopes of getting their money back in certain cases following the insolvency of their tour operator. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg ruled that protection against the insolvency of a tour operator can also apply if the consumer withdraws from his trip due to "unavoidable and exceptional circumstances and the tour operator becomes insolvent after this withdrawal".

There is no reason to treat travelers whose vacation is cancelled because the tour operator is insolvent differently from travelers who have withdrawn from their trip due to "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances". EU law stipulates that a consumer who does not take a package holiday due to "unavoidable and unusual circumstances" is entitled to a full refund.

The ruling is based on cases from Belgium and Austria - in both cases, those affected had canceled their trips planned for 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. Shortly afterwards, the tour operator went bankrupt. In the Austrian case, the consumers then took HDI, the tour operator's insurer, to court. According to the Court, HDI argued that it did not have to reimburse anything because the trip had been canceled due to coronavirus and not because of the insolvency. The ECJ did not follow this argument. HDI has not yet commented on the current ruling.

In both cases, national courts must now make a final decision and take the ECJ's ruling into account. According to EU law, the member states should ensure that package travelers are fully protected against the insolvency of the organizer./mjm/DP/jha