The National Union of Travel Agencies (UNAV), in coordination with the Business Federation of Territorial Associations of Spanish Travel Agencies (Fetave), has launched an extraordinary legal and operational protocol to support travel agencies affected by the fires that have been declared in various parts of Spain.
The action, articulated through UNAV Legal, is directed both at associated agencies and those that are not part of the organization, with the aim of providing legal security and practical support to companies whose activity has been conditioned by evacuations, confinements, or other measures arising from the emergency situation.
As part of this contingency plan, the organization has made available to the sector an emergency legal kit that includes a dozen guidelines and specific recommendations to help agencies manage incidents related to the temporary inability to attend to clients or to carry out their usual work.
Among the actions contemplated are guidelines on the initial steps that must be taken, support in processing incidents with travelers, suggestions on the documentation that needs to be kept to prove the damages suffered, as well as information related to insurance and possible aid or support lines that different public administrations may enable.
At the same time, UNAV will draft a manifesto addressed to tourism providers in order to request maximum flexibility towards the agencies that have been affected by the exceptional circumstances arising from the fires.
UNAV and Fetave have also opened specific consultation channels to respond to requests for information and advice that agencies may raise in the coming days. At the same time, the affected companies must complete a form in which they will detail the damages suffered and the approximate number of clients and cases affected.
The director of UNAV Legal, María Dolores Serrano, responsible for the execution of the protocol, has stated that the information collected will allow for assessing the real impact of the fires on the sector and will facilitate the communication of that situation to public administrations, in addition to serving to develop legal recommendations and criteria for action.
For his part, the president of UNAV, César Gutiérrez, has highlighted that travel agencies provide "an essential service for thousands of travelers" and has emphasized the need to offer them support and guidance so that they can face this situation "with the greatest legal and operational security possible."
UNAV has also expressed its solidarity with the people affected by the fires and has thanked the work of the firefighting personnel, Security Forces and Corps, emergency services, Civil Protection, Armed Forces, and volunteers who work to contain the fire and protect the population.