New EU legislation could harm small and medium tourism businesses with an online presence, that’s according to Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune.
The Travel Package directive originally designed to tackle websites that offer holiday packages without the normal level of protections, has the potential of costing East Cork’s tourism trade money, and hamper them from cross promoting other tourism related interests.
Under these new proposals, a B&B who promote local services on their website could be defined as a package tour operator and may have to insure themselves against any loss the consumer suffers from a referral on their website.
If this legislation goes through in its current form it could have a major impact on projects like the Ring of Cork. A new brand designed to promote Cork as a world class destination.
The Ring of Cork is a branding initiative of South & East Cork Tourism, which is supported by South & East Cork Area Development (SECAD), through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the National Development Plan.
The people behind the Ring of Cork hope to use a number of marketing tools, including social media, to get the word out about the growing number of tourist-related businesses here.
Ryan Howard of SECAD (South East Cork Area Development) told the East Cork Journal “I can understand the move to protect the consumer. I would be asking the MEPS however to seek a legal interpretation on the impact on local businesses and networks.”
Fáilte Ireland research shows that over 73% of holidaymakers to Ireland use the internet for planning a holiday here. What is more interesting is how they are using the internet. According to travel website Tnooz.com, in the first half of 2014, nearly 16% of bookings and 19% of room nights were booked on tablets and smartphones. 41% of web visitors and nearly 38% of page views were generated from non-desktop devices (mobile and tablet).
The Fine Gael European representative says the legislation in its current form is seriously defective.
“The proposed legislation is unclear and creates more red tape and costs for small tourism related business in Ireland. I have raised this issue with the department of Transport and Tourism, with whom I am working closely with to amend the proposals. I also raised the issue at the European Parliamentary SME circle meeting in Strasbourg. Officials there have committed to working with me in the interests of small business. ”
She added President of the European Commission,” Jean-Claude Juncker committed at the start of his Commission to reduce red tape. Europe needs to be big on the big things but little on the little things. We cannot continue to heap unnecessary regulations on our SMEs. I am a member of the EU Parliaments Red Tape watch and we have drawn up a list of EU proposed laws which add an unnecessary level of red tape. We will tackle those laws one by one to highlight the burden that they will bring to small business. “