Package travel and the travel agreement
This page explains what qualifies as package travel, when a business is considered a travel organizer, and who is regarded as a traveller. These definitions determine whether the legal rules on travel agreements and consumer protection apply.
Travel agreement
A travel agreement is a contract under which you, as a travel organizer, commit to providing a pre‑arranged trip (package travel) to a traveller.
What is Package travel?
A package travel consists of:
- Duration
The trip includes at least one overnight stay or lasts more than 24 hours; and - Combination of Services
The trip includes two or more of the following services:
- Transport (for example, airline tickets or bus travel)
- Accommodation (for example, hotels or holiday homes);
- Another tourist service that forms an essential part of the trip
(for example, excursions or guided tours).
Who is a Travel Organizer?
A company qualifies as a travel organizer if it organizes and offers package travel to the public or to a specific group of persons in the course of its professional activities.
As a result, the company is responsible for the proper performance of the trip it organizes.
Responsibilities of the Travel Organizer
- The company must ensure that the travel agreement is carried out as agreed and in line with what the traveller may reasonably expect.
- The content of the trip must correspond to the information and arrangements agreed upon.
- Where a company acts, in the course of its business, as an intermediary for a travel organizer established in Aruba, the company is considered a travel organizer under the law and is responsible for the obligations connected to the package travel.
Mandatory Legal Protection
- A travel organizer may not apply terms or conditions that are less favorable than those laid down by law.
- The traveller may not be disadvantaged by general terms and conditions or small print.
- The statutory rules on travel agreements are mandatory and cannot be set aside to the detriment of the traveller.
Traveller
A traveller is:
- The party that concludes the travel agreement with the travel organizer; or
- The person for whom the trip has been booked.
A traveller also includes a person to whom the travel agreement has been validly transferred, for example when a booked trip is resold to another person under the same contractual conditions.
