Tour operators in Hungary are facing several regulatory changes from 1 July affecting their contracts, security deposits and customer policies, according to the Association of Hungarian Travel Agencies (Magyar Utazási Irodák Szövetsége - Muisz).

Travel agencies operating in the country will have to satisfy new legal requirements in line with EU regulations, Muisz ethics and legal committee chair Dorottya Gyenizse said in a recent presentation to market players.

The new rules will take a more product-focused approach and different measures will apply to contracts with corporate customers and private individuals, Gyenizse said.

She said tour operators, for example, will need to sign a framework agreement with B2B partners or corporate customers to become exempt from strict package travel regulations.

The regulatory changes will also impact the current system of security deposits. Travel agencies selling domestic tours directly to customers will have to guarantee a 3% security deposit (amounting to at least Ft 500,000).

Tour operators providing cross-border services will need to have a 12% deposit (at least Ft 5 million or Ft 7 million depending on whether the package includes passenger transport).

And companies operating charter flights will have to have a 20% security deposit of at least Ft 50 million.

A new insolvency insurance will be also introduced to cover the costs of bringing passengers home and pay for other expenses in case a tour operator goes bankrupt. But there are no such insurance policies available yet on the market, Gyenizse said.

More stringent regulations will apply also to the administration of advance payments, she added.

Gyenizse has advised tour operators to go through and update their travel contracts and general terms and conditions to make sure they meet the future legal requirements.

Travel agencies are subject to several pieces of legislation, including Act CLXIV of 2005 on Commerce (this will be updated with the modifications effective as of 1 July), government decrees 213/1996 and 472/2017 and the Civil Code, she recalled.

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