Authorities in Portugal have announced that travellers can now claim the refund of unused vouchers at the travel agencies related to trips that have not been made until September 30, 2020, due to the Coronavirus.
In addition, companies have 14 days to return the money to consumers, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to the announcement made by Turismo de Portugal, “the cancellation, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, of trips organised by travel and tourism agencies whose date of completion should be having occurred between March 13, 2020, and September 30, 2020” resulted in “the issuance of vouchers to be used by travellers until December 31, 2021” as well as in “the right of travellers to see trips rescheduled for a later date, until December 31 2021.”
In this regard, in July, the European Commission announced that it would start infringement procedures towards the European Union Member States for not following the EU law on travellers’ rights by offering airline vouchers instead of refunds during the Coronavirus pandemic situation.
In addition, the Commission recalled the States that the consumers’ rights remain valid.
Based on the report of Portugal News, the decree-law states that if not used by December 31, 2021, the guest can be refunded within 14 days.
Besides, according to Tourism de Portugal, if the scheduled rescheduling is not made by December 31, 2021, as a result of the failure of reaching an agreement between the tourist resort and the guest, the latter has the right to be refunded the amount paid at the time of the cancellation of the reservation to be made within two weeks.
In case that the rescheduling is made for a date when the applicable rate is “below the value of the initial reservation, the difference must be used in other services of the tourist development or local accommodation establishment, not being returned to the guest if he does not use it”.
These provisions apply “to reservations for accommodation services in tourist developments and local accommodation establishments located in Portugal, with or without additional services, made through travel and tourism agencies” that are not refundable at the outset.
In October, a total of 161 leading airlines committed to reimburse their passengers within seven days, after dialogues with authorities of national protection and the European Commission.
