This year, the Finnish Consumer Agency and Regional State Administrative Agencies are launching an intensive monitoring campaign that targets the operations of package tour companies.
Package tour operators must be listed in the Finnish Consumer Agency's register of package travel companies. If a company collects payments from customers before they travel, it must place a security with the Finnish Consumer Agency. This security safeguards the advance payments made by consumers in the event that the operator goes bankrupt and the tour is cancelled.
If the company only invoices customers after the tour, the obligation to place a security does not apply as a rule. The Finnish Consumer Agency has learned, however, that some companies released from this obligation have been collecting payments from their customers before the tour.
The Finnish Consumer Agency and the Regional State Administrative Agencies have thus launched a monitoring project that focuses on the activities of tour operators in particular. Regional State Administrative Agency inspectors will go through the list of companies in the Consumer Agency’s register of package travel companies and visit them as far as possible. The results of the monitoring campaign will be made public at a later date.
The Finnish Consumer Agency’s register of package travel companies
More information on traveller’s rights
More information on the duties of package tour operators