The impact of the Services Directive on the tourism sector

Abstract

This paper analyzes and assesses the recent regulations enacted by the State and the Autonomous Communities in order to implement the so called «Directive on services» in the tourism sector. These regulations have mostly replaced the authorisation regimes by other notification and declaration regimes; they have also strengthened the monopoly of travel agencies in the field of package travels, and have eliminated several obligations relying upon tourist operators (i.e., the compulsory communication of prices). Nevertheless, these regulations are not totally coherent among them, and some of their provisions do not comply with the «Directive on services» in the field of tourism guides, under the pretext of the Directives on regulated professions.