Travel guarantees
Our task in regard to travel guarantees is to review and approve the travel guarantees that travel operators are obligated to arrange to cover situations where a trip is cancelled or interrupted due to the insolvency of the travel operator.
The task of Kammarkollegiet, Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency
All operators who sell or promote tours must have arranged for a travel guarantee, if there is an obligation pursuant to the Swedish Travel Guarantee Act that the travel arrangements are covered by a guarantee. The purpose of the law is to protect passengers in the event the travel operator becomes insolvent or is declared bankrupt.
Our responsibilities concerning travel guarantees consist of:
- Deciding if an obligation to arrange a guarantee exists.
- Review and give our approval to the guarantees that travel operators are required to arrange.
- Make decisions concerning compensation if the trip is cancelled or interrupted due to that the travel operator has become insolvent.
- Exercise regulatory supervision to ensure compliance with the legislation.
- Disseminate information concerning which travel operators have arranged for travel guarantees (in other words, that they are fulfilling their obligation pursuant to the Swedish Travel Guarantee Act).
About the Swedish Travel Guarantee Act
Package travel and linked travel arrangements (LTAs) are governed by two different statutes: the Swedish Package Travel Act and the Swedish Travel Guarantee Act.
The Swedish Travel Guarantee Act, which we at Kammarkollegiet are responsible for, means that travel operators selling package travel or linked travel arrangements are obliged to notify us of their activities.
More information about the Act and Regulation
You find more information about the different Acts and Regulations on the Riksdag´s website and on the EUR-Lex´s website.
Swedish Package Tavel Act (in Swedish) (2018:1217)
External link, opens in new window.
Swedish Travel Guarantee Act (in Swedish) (2018:1218) External link, opens in new window.
Swedish Travel Guarantee Regulation (in Swedish) (2018:1340)
External link.
About the Swedish Package Travel Act
The Swedish Consumer Agency is responsible for the Swedish Package Travel Act. The statute defines what a package travel and linked travel arrangements are.
The Swedish Package Travel Act also regulates other obligations that one as an organiser or reseller/agent have vis-à-vis their traveller customers.
The statute includes:
- requirements and obligations concerning the information that the tour operator and the reseller/agent is obligated to provide to the traveller prior to them booking the package travel
- shared responsibility between the reseller/agent and the organiser, which means that in some cases the reseller/agent must put themselves in the place of the organiser in order to fulfil the contract vis-à-vis the traveller
- obligations when medical care is required
- obligation to assist the traveller if he or she encounters problems during their travel.
If you have further questions regarding the Swedish Package Travel Act, contact the Swedish Consumer Agency (opens in a new window) External link, opens in new window.
Glossary of terms
- Insolvent or insolvency: A travel operator who cannot pay its debts and that the situation is not of a temporary nature. Another word in Swedish for insolvent is obestånd; these terms are often used interchangeably.
- Travel operator: An organiser of package travel. – A retailer of package travel assembled by an organiser outside of the EEA, - A trader that acts as a broker or agent for linked travel arrangements.
Find out if your travel operator has arranged for a travel guarantee
Prior to booking and paying for a trip we recommend you to verify that your travel operator has arranged for a travel guarantee to ensure that you will be reimbursed in the event of insolvency.
