The Slovenian law regulates a contract on organised travel in the Obligations Code (hereinafter: OZ), namely in Chapter XXIII or in Articles 883 to 903. In this article, we will highlight in more detail the obligations of the travel organiser.

The travel organiser undertakes, by means of a contract on organised travel (hereinafter: the contract), to provide the traveller with a package of services consisting of transport, accommodation and other related services, for which the traveller undertakes to pay the organiser a total (flat-rate) price.

The travel organizer must issue a travel certificate to the traveller or conclude a contract in written form, which contains all the mandatory components of the travel certificate, no later than when the contract is concluded. The travel certificate must contain: the place and date of issue, the name and address of the travel organiser, the name of the passenger, the place and date of departure and arrival; the days of stay, the necessary information on the timetable, the prices and conditions of transport and the quality of the means of transport; the necessary information on the stay, indicating the place of accommodation, the type and category of accommodation, the number of meals (e.g. full board, half board, bed and breakfast), the exact programme of the journey and details of the other services included in the total price; whether a minimum number of passengers is required for the journey to take place and the time limit for notifying the passenger of any cancellation of the journey; the total price for the package of services provided for in the contract; the conditions under which the passenger may request cancellation of the contract, the time limit for lodging a complaint and for requesting a reduction in the price on the grounds of poor quality or incomplete service; the necessary details of border and customs formalities, sanitary, monetary and other administrative regulations, etc. other information which it is considered useful to include in the certificate. If, before the travel certificate is issued, the traveller has been given a travel programme containing the information, the travel certificate can only refer to this programme. The existence and validity of the contract shall not depend on the travel document and its contents. However, the tour organiser shall be liable for any damage caused to the other party to whom the travel certificate has not been issued or to whom the travel certificate is incorrect. The OZ also contains a presumption of correctness, which provides that what is stated in the certificate is presumed to be correct until the contrary is proved. The tour organiser must provide the traveller with services which have the content and characteristics as announced in the contract, the certificate or the itinerary, and must look after the rights and interests of the traveller in accordance with good commercial practice in this field.

Before the conclusion of the contract, the tour organiser must give the traveller, in writing or in any other appropriate form, the necessary information on border formalities (travel documents and visas) and health formalities applicable to the journey and stay at the destination. Before the start of the journey, the traveller must be informed in the same way of the timetable and the exact position of the traveller on the means of transport (e.g. the address and telephone number of the local representative office of the organiser or the seller of the programme, or, if there is no local representative office, the emergency telephone number or any other information that will enable the passenger to contact the organiser and/or the seller of the trip; information on the optional insurance to cover the costs of cancellation of the contract and the insurance to cover the costs of assistance and return home in the event of sickness or an accident on the trip. In the case of a minor travelling or staying abroad, the organiser must provide information on how to contact the minor directly or the responsible person in the minor’s place of accommodation. The organiser may communicate to others information obtained about the traveller, his/her luggage and his/her movements only with the consent of the traveller or at the request of the competent authority.

The tour organiser shall be liable for any damage caused to the traveller as a result of the tour organiser’s failure to fulfil, or only partial fulfilment of, the obligations laid down in the contract and in this Code relating to the organisation of the journey. If the organiser himself takes over the carriage and accommodation of travellers or other services connected with the execution of the organised journey, he shall be liable to the traveller for the damage caused in accordance with the rules applicable to those services. A tour organiser who has entrusted to third parties the carriage and accommodation of travellers or other services connected with the execution of a journey shall be liable to the traveller for damage caused by the fact that these services were not provided or were only partially provided, in accordance with the rules applicable to them. However, even if the services were provided in accordance with the contract and the regulations applicable to them, the organiser shall be liable for the damage suffered by the traveller as a result of their provision, unless he proves that he acted as a diligent tour operator in selecting the persons who provided them. The traveller shall have the right to claim directly from the third party liable for the damage full or supplementary compensation for the damage suffered. To the extent that it has compensated the traveller for the damage, the tour organiser shall acquire all the rights which the traveller would have had against the third party liable for the damage (right of recourse). The traveller shall be obliged to provide the tour organiser with the documents and everything necessary for the exercise of the right of recourse.

If the services provided under the travel contract were incomplete or of poor quality, the traveller can claim a proportionate reduction in the price, provided that he or she has lodged an objection with the tour organiser within eight days of the end of the trip. The request for a reduction in the price shall not affect the traveller’s right to claim compensation for damages.

The provisions of the travel contract excluding or reducing the liability of the tour organiser shall be null and void, but a written contractual provision fixing in advance the maximum compensation shall be valid, provided that it is not manifestly disproportionate to the damage. This limitation of compensation does not apply in the case of personal injury or if the damage was caused by the organiser intentionally or with gross negligence.

The tour organiser may only request an increase in the agreed price if, after the conclusion of the contract, there has been a change in the currency exchange rate or a change in the carrier’s tariffs affecting the price of the journey. If these changes have led to a reduction in the price of the journey, the organiser must reimburse the traveller the difference in price. The tour organiser may only exercise the right to increase the agreed price or be obliged to recognise the reduction in the agreed price referred to in the preceding paragraph if the variation of the price after the conclusion of the journey and the method of calculating the variation are provided for in the travel document. The price of the journey may be increased no later than the 20th day before the start of the journey. If the increase in the agreed price exceeds 10 %, the traveller may withdraw from the contract without having to pay compensation. In this case, the traveller shall be entitled to recover what he/she has paid to the tour organiser.

The tour organiser may withdraw from the contract, in whole or in part, without having to make any compensation, if, before or during performance of the contract, extraordinary circumstances arise which could not have been foreseen, avoided or averted, but which, at the time of conclusion of the contract, would have constituted a valid reason for the tour organiser not to have concluded the contract if they had arisen at that time. The tour organiser may still withdraw from the contract without having to pay damages if the minimum number of travellers announced in the travel document is not reached; it is a condition, however, that the traveller has been informed of this circumstance within a reasonable time, which may not be less than five days before the date on which the journey was due to begin. In the event of cancellation of the contract before its performance, the organiser shall reimburse whatever has been received from the traveller. If the organiser withdraws from the contract during its performance, the organiser shall be entitled to fair payment for the agreed services rendered and shall be obliged to take all necessary steps to safeguard the interests of the traveller.

Changes to the itinerary are only permitted if they are caused by exceptional circumstances which the tour organiser could not have foreseen, avoided or averted. The costs incurred by changing the programme shall be borne by the tour organiser and the reduction of costs shall be for the benefit of the traveller. The agreed accommodation (overnight stay) may only be exchanged for accommodation (overnight stay) in a facility of the same category, or at the expense of the organiser in a facility of a higher category, and only at the agreed location. If the itinerary has been substantially altered without good reason, the tour organiser shall reimburse all that it has received from the traveller who has withdrawn from the itinerary as a result. If the programme has been substantially altered during the performance of the contract, the withdrawing traveller shall pay only the actual cost of the services provided to him.

Case-law, namely the Supreme Court’s judgment no. II Ips 162/2016 of 12 April 2018, shows that the tour organiser is liable for the damage caused to the traveller as a result of his/her failure to fulfil, or only partial fulfilment of, the obligations laid down in the contract and the law. It further follows that the safety of the traveller is certainly one of the most important obligations of the tour organiser and that the provision of safety depends on the risks of the individual journey. Since the defendant organised a trip to a football match, and not a tour of cultural sites, it was under a duty to inform (potential) travellers of the greater security risks and to take all steps to ensure their safety. It also follows that the liability of the tour organiser approaches strict liability and places the burden of the risks in the sphere of the customer, who, because of his specific situation, is better able to manage them. The tour organiser cannot absolve itself of its liability merely by proving that it was diligent, but must prove that the circumstances which prevented it from performing the contract properly were unforeseeable, insurmountable or irresistible to it.

We would also refer to the Supreme Court’s judgment no. II Ips 69/2020 of 2.3. 2022, which shows that, in assessing the financial compensation for non-pecuniary damage for loss of enjoyment on holiday, the subjective experience of the injured party at the time of the loss of enjoyment on holiday is relevant in the light of the principle of the individualisation of the amount of compensation, and that, in order to take account of the importance of the goods affected and the purpose of the compensation for non-pecuniary damage, so that it does not support tendencies incompatible with its nature and purpose, the following factors are also relevant in the context of the principle of the objective conditionality of the amount of the damages award: the agreed purpose, characteristics and price of the journey and the intensity and duration of the breach of contract. It further follows that the price of the trip and its agreed purpose and characteristics set the boundaries for the reasonable expectation of enjoyment of the holiday (reasonable expectation of enjoyment of the holiday). For a higher price, the expectation of the quality of the holiday experience is reasonably higher. Last but not least, this is usually the reason that influences the price of the trip. Expectations will also be higher for one-off (e.g. wedding) or longer-term trips. However, the intensity and duration of the breach of contract in relation to the reasonable expectations have a significant impact on the assessment of the intensity of the loss of enjoyment. Mere minor deficiencies are not sufficient to justify an award of damages. The duration of the journey must also be taken into account, since for shorter journeys, a breach of contract lasting a day or two will not, as a general rule, constitute merely insignificant damage.