The purpose of the study is to explore legal ways regulating travel contracts. To put it concretely, it is necessary to take legal steps for travel contracts in order to protect consumers and sound tour culture, and to suggest basic materials to enact...
The purpose of the study is to explore legal ways regulating travel contracts. To put it concretely, it is necessary to take legal steps for travel contracts in order to protect consumers and sound tour culture, and to suggest basic materials to enact the law concerned. To this end, both literature review and the actual proofs of study were used as methods of the study. In the literature review, the concept of a travel contract, its legal definition, various problems on the travel contract and arrangement and validity of the contract were studied. In the actual proofs of study, questionnaire on three groups, consumers, experts and travel agencies was used in order to study legislative ways that could regulate the travel wntract. Some contents that were clarified in theoretical studies, relevant laws and regulations and general conditions of the travel contract in U.S., Japan and Korea as well as EU members as Germany, England and France were in the questionnaire to be considered when a travel law could be enacted in the future. The results of the study show what way and how a law regulating the travel contract enacts. These thus analyzed in the study can be contributed to develop the tourist industry healthily and to prepare a solution in order to protect consumers, recognizing legal importance of the travel contract. In concrete discussions some legal lines to regulate the travel contract are as follows: Firstly, terminologies in the travel contract should be clearly clarified and a travel agency also should owe a duty to provide tour information to consumers. Secondly, all the facts related to the travel contract should be stated plainly when the contract is concluded between the two. Thirdly, the ways to regulate contents of the contract in case of a raise of travel expenses should be clarified. Fourthly, in the contract, the travel agency should allow a consumer change to other person and the consumer who cancelled the travel contract without extra charges should also clarify the reason why. Fifthly, the agency's responsibility for its faults during a travel should be clrified. 5ixthly, the agency should be under an obligation legally to transport consumers to their home when an accident beyond human control or a fault by the agency breaks out after starting the travel. In that case, the two should share 50 percent each in additional expenses. Seventhly, the agency should strictly be responsible for the consumer's safety. Eightly, the agency should legally have the obligation to refund travel expenses to consumers and then to transport them to their home safely when the agency is in inability to pay or goes into bankruptcy. And if there are more disputes than these mentioned above on the contract between the two, the disputes legally should be reported and put them on trial in a district court where consumers live in.