Only a licensed travel agency, no one else, can build and sell tours. In order for a trip to be a tour, a package of tourist services which lasts at least 24 hours and contains at least two of these services: accommodation, transport or any other service that is not complementary to accommodation or transport and forms an important part of a set of services must be legally required.
"In particular, the last mentioned performance is a bit of a problem in interpreting the law, but for simplicity: if you order your German guided tour with secured entrances, if it takes more than a day, you go for a trip even if you are just camping on the bus, " explains Lukáš Zelený, head of the Legal Department of the consumer organization dTest.
The business of a travel agency requires a state permit, which is issued by the Ministry for Regional Development under the conditions. The process of obtaining it is not the easiest. The claim must be accompanied by a valid bankruptcy or bank guarantee and a detailed business plan. "Insurance companies look at travel agencies and consider whether they pay off as clients or not. Whoever is uninsurable can not make trips. The state has actually transferred the review of business activities to another entrepreneur who has a financial interest in making foreign business as safe as possible, otherwise he would lose profits, " says Lukas Zeleny.
The list of travel agencies and an overview of their insurance policies is among others the Ministry for Regional Development. Insurance information must be obtained by every customer. Before you order the trip, check the office with which you enter into the contract. Without a fuse, it is not possible to sell a trip, but what if someone tried it.
On the other hand, the operation of a travel agency is free trade . It is enough for the entrepreneur to report to the trade office that he wants to do business and to sell, for example, individual tourist services (tickets, tickets, book hotels or campsites, search for tickets for concerts or sports matches). Nevertheless, he can not organize tours himself and sell them to customers, he is not allowed and is not insured . "Agencies are so mediocre, they sell tours to tour operators or make tours for them. That can, the customer is protected by the insurance policy of the office that sells the tour, the agency is actually a subcontractor, " says Green. So be careful if you shop at the agency, someone else is the organizer in the sense of the law, and in the case of defects or bankruptcy you would claim your claims elsewhere than you have taken the tour .
There are other subjects in tourism. For the validity of the tour contract, it is not important whether or not it is actually organized by the person who may by law be valid anyway. If someone is doing wrong, he can get a fine. Who makes tours non-profit (not systematically, independently, on their own behalf, on their own responsibility, for a fee and for profit) is acting in accordance with the law. Scout clubs or other clubs, which occasionally expel their members for a long trip or a joint holiday, do not necessarily have to be concessioned travel agencies.
Source: tz, edited editorially
