Tourism Law
Package tour and accommodation disputes, agency and facility licensing, permits for tourism rentals, and administrative sanctions.
Contents
Tourism law does not rest on a single statute but at the intersection of several: the Tourism Encouragement Law No. 2634, the Travel Agencies Law No. 1618, and, on the consumer side, Law No. 6502 together with the Regulation on Package Tour Contracts. In practice that means the forum changes with the claim. A refund for a package tour goes to the consumer arbitration committee or the consumer court, while cancellation of a licence and an administrative fine go to the administrative court. An action brought before the wrong forum costs time, and the time limits keep running meanwhile.
Package tour disputes
Claims for a refund, a reduction in price and compensation where a tour is cancelled, postponed, or performed below what the contract promised. The organiser is answerable for proper performance of the contract irrespective of who actually supplied the service, and failures originating with a hotel or an airline fall within that responsibility. The traveller's right to transfer the contract before departure, and the organiser's compulsory insurance obligation, are also assessed here.
Travel agency procedures
Applications for an agency operating licence, changes of group, transfers of trade name and address, and disputes arising from TÜRSAB membership; the routes available against suspension or cancellation of a licence.
Accommodation and facilities
Tourism operating licence
Applications for tourism investment and operating licences, procedures relating to star classification, and disputes arising from allocated immovable property.
Accommodation contracts
Allotment and room commitment contracts between a facility and an agency, early booking terms, and cancellation and no-show charges.
Loss occurring at the facility
Personal injury suffered by a guest, loss of or damage to belongings, and illness originating in food; the operator's liability and the insurance relationship.
Short-term tourism rental of dwellings
Obtaining a permit under Law No. 7464, the cases in which the unanimous consent of the condominium owners is required, the administrative fines applied where a dwelling is let without a permit, and the actions to be brought against those fines. Where the letting is arranged through an intermediary platform, the question of who bears responsibility is also assessed here.
Administrative sanctions
Administrative fines, suspension of activity and cancellation of licences arising from inspections by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and by municipalities; the periods for objecting and applications for a stay of execution.
Frequently asked questions
If the tour is cancelled, can the price be recovered?
Where the organiser cancels the tour, the whole of the price paid is refunded without deduction. Where the traveller withdraws of their own accord, the deduction provided for in the contract may be applied; if extraordinary circumstances exist, however, a right to terminate without deduction arises.
The hotel was not what the contract described. Who is answerable?
The counterparty is not the hotel operator but the agency that organised the package tour. The organiser is answerable for proper performance of the contract irrespective of who actually supplied the service. Recording the failure on the spot, in a written statement and in photographs, is decisive at the later stage.
Is a permit required to let a dwelling to tourists?
A permit from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is required for tourism lettings of one hundred days or less. In buildings with more than one independent unit, a unanimous decision of the condominium owners is required. Letting without a permit attracts an administrative fine.
Should the claim go to the consumer arbitration committee or to court?
In package tour and accommodation disputes, where the amount in dispute is below the monetary threshold set each year, application to the consumer arbitration committee is compulsory; above it, an action is brought in the consumer court. Cancellation of licences and administrative fines, by contrast, fall within the jurisdiction of the administrative court.
What can be done if an agency licence is cancelled?
Cancellation of a licence is an administrative act; an action for annulment may be brought before the administrative court from the date of notification, and a stay of execution may be sought. So that the business is not interrupted, the application for a stay should appear in the pleading with its grounds set out.
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