This guidance primarily addresses travel providers, who are going to be registered in the Fund or who have recently been registered.

The guidance concerns practical matters related to registration and gives answers to questions that travel providers often ask in this context.

Please be advised that the Fund will assess it´s risk on travel providers and the size of the guarantee will be depended on the company’s financial strength. There are certain financial ratios that will have to be met - after the Fund has made a value check of all assets and after pricing in the risk of deficits and seasonality.

The primary ratios are:

• Liquidity ratio above 1,0
• Adjusted quick ratio above 0,3
• Solvency ratio above 6 % or 8 % in case of deficit
• Equity / total turnover above 4, 6 or 8 % depending on destinations, supplier guarantees etc.

The guidance on registration – in Danish – can be found here.

This guidance describes the reports and payments that must be carried out regularly to the Fund, as well as how The Fund assess it’s risk on the travel providers and the conditions that may incur as a result of the Fund's surveillance of the travel providers.

The guidance for travel providers that are already registered – in Danish – can be found here.

If a travel provider is unable to conduct future travels due to financial difficulties, the Fund must be contacted immediately – contact information can be found here.

Outside office hours please call +45 20 70 83 33.

Once a year the Fund must receive a report made by the registered or chartered accountant of the travel provider. If your accountant is not established in Denmark, you must contact us in order to get sorted out if he/she will be entitled to sign the report.

The report must confirm the data reported each quarter of the year by the travel provider to the Fund.

Furthermore the accountant must confirm three key figures concerning the company (the coverage ratio, liquidity ratio and equity ratio of the company) based on the latest annual report.

The accountant's report must be sent to the Fund with the original signature of the accountant at the same time the annual report is due.

Regarding companies this means that the accountant's report must be submitted to the Fund no later than 5 months after the expiry of the financial year.

Regarding private businesses the accountant's report must be submitted to the Fund no later than the 1st of July every year.

The accountant's report - in Danish - can be found here.

The Fund was established in accordance with an Act of 1979. The latest Act is no. 1101 of September 3rd 2015.

Download The Promulgation of the Travel Guarantee Fund Act here.

The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority has issued an executive order on registration, provision of security etc. It is no. 1421 of December 3rd 2015.

Download The Executive Order here.

The board of directors of the Travel Guarantee Fund consists of one chairman and six members. The board is appointed by the Minister for Business and Growth. The Board has engaged a secretariat to handle administration etc. The Fund's articles and the board's rules of procedure are laid down by the board and approved by the Minister.

The articles and rules of procedure - in Danish - can be found here: "Organisation".

Within six months after the expiry of a calendar year the Fund renders an annual account, audited by the National Audit Office of Denmark (Rigsrevisionen).

The latest annual report - in Danish - can be found here: "Årsrapporter".

The Travel Guarantee Fund Act is amended by July 1st 2018. Some of the most important changes are listed below.

After July 1st 2018 the Travel Guarantee Fund will not cover travellers who purchase package travels or linked travel arrangement from providers who are not registered with the Fund.

It will be crucial if the provider was registered at the time the traveller purchased the travel. Thus it is expected that travellers will have an increased focus on the importance of purchasing travels from providers who are registered in the Fund. Travellers can search on our website whether a particular travel provider is registered in the Fund.

Further a new concept - "linked travel arrangement" - is introduced. Travellers who "pack" their journey themselves will have better protection than before, though not as good as if buying a package travel.

If a trader on his website offers for example accommodation and has a commercial link to another website through which the traveller purchases another travel service as part of the journey (e.g. a ticket to a concert), then it could be a linked travel arrangement. If so the trader offering the first type of travel (in the example the accommodation) must be registered in the Fund and provide a guarantee related to the accommodation turnover if the traveller has purchased the concert ticket no later than 24 hours after purchasing the accommodation.

Also there will be some changes in the definition of package travels. Car hire becomes an independent travel service in the same way that transportation, accommodation and other tourist services are.

It will be considered a package travel if the various travel services (transport, accommodation, tourist service, car rental) are offered, sold or invoiced at a total price, or referred to as a package travel, although the various travel services are purchased from different traders. It will no longer be considered a package travel if a traveller initially buys accommodation (and receives an invoice for this) and then some months later purchases for example transportation (and receives an invoice for this) – even though both are purchased from the same provider.

Travel providers established in any EU or EEA country are free to choose in which EU or EEA country they want to provide insolvency protection. However they must be established in that specific country. Travel providers established outside the EU and EEA, who target their marketing at the Danish market (e.g. a Danish website) must register in the Travel Guarantee Fund.

The Travel Guarantee Fund provides assistance to travel customers who have bought a package tour and in some cases to travel customers who have bought a cross boarder flight-only from Denmark. It is described in The Travel Guarantee Fund Act Section 5 and 5a in which cases the Fund provides assistance.

The Travel Guarantee Fund's coverage includes the travel services that are described in The Act Section 2 (1) - primarily package tours and and in some cases flight-only.

A package tour often consists of transportation and accommodation, e.g. a flight ticket and hotel accommodation or a bus ticket and hotel. Everything must be purchased from the same travel provider. The exact definition of a package tour is described in The Act Section 2 (1). A package tour is always covered by the Fund if you have purchased it from a travel provider who is registered in the Fund. The invoice does not have to state that you are covered by the Fund.

Registered travel providers can be found here (in Danish).

A cruise will be considered as a package tour in itself.

A high school stay of longer duration is not a package tour if the student lives with a family that is not paid for the accommodation. Thus the accommodation is not considered an element of a package tour, and the education is not a tourist service.

Flight-only may be covered by the Fund. If you have bought a cross boarder flight ticket from Denmark and is left stranded abroad at the time of the travel provider's bankruptcy, the Fund will arrange home transportation to Denmark if you have a valid flight ticket home. "The travel provider" is the company you bought the ticket from, i.e. the airline if you bought the ticket directly from an airline. If you bought the ticket from a travel agency, it is the travel agency that is your travel provider, unless the travel agency explicitly informed you that you dealt with the airline and not them.

Rental of a holiday home is not a travel service and is not covered by the Fund.

Travel services purchased online

Your travel can very well be bought online, if you purchase a travel service that is covered by the Fund and if the travel provider is registered in the Fund. The travel provider must display their registration in the Travel Guarantee Fund. However it may sometimes be difficult to determine whether the flight ticket and accommodation are purchased from the same travel provider. For instance, if you buy your flight ticket at a website and are transferred to another website when ordering accommodation, you can not be certain that you have purchased flight and accommodation from the same provider - and if you have not done that, it is not a package tour that is covered by the Fund. In case of doubt, please contact us here.

Gift voucher

You can't count on that a gift voucher for a travel is covered by the Fund if the travel provider goes bankrupt. If it is stated on the gift voucher that it must be used for buying a package tour and is purchased from a travel provider that is registered in the Fund, and if it can be proven that the gift voucher has been paid for, it will presumably be covered by the Fund. If you have any questions concerning gift vouchers, please contact us here.

Don't forget!

Always remember to get an invoice/a ticket stating what you have bought. If you want to find out whether a specific travel is covered by the Fund or not, please contact us here.

The assistance that the Travel Guarantee Fund provides is described in The Act Section 5 and Section 5a.

Bankruptcy before the intended travel

The Fund can reimburse the amount you have paid for the package tour. Concerning travel or cancellation insurance you must apply for reimbursement at the insurance company. If you have only bought a flight ticket cross boarder from Denmark you will receive compensation if the Fund has sufficient capital, and there is a deductible of DKK 1,000 per person.

Bankruptcy while you are already abroad

If you have bought a package tour with accommodation and the bankruptcy is causing you to leave, the Fund will make sure you get another place to stay. The Fund may have to disrupt your vacation. In this case you can make a compensation claim for the disrupted part of your vacation.

If you have bought a package tour where repatriation is included the Fund or SOS International A/S will ensure repatriation within "a reasonable period of time". You may have to stay longer than planned at the destination but the Fund cannot cover lost wages etc. If you do not consent to await the repatriation arranged by the Fund/SOS and instead arrange your own return, the Fund cannot cover the expenses for your new ticket etc.

If you have bought a return flight ticket cross boarder from Denmark the Fund or SOS will ensure repatriation "within a reasonable period of time". If you do not consent to await the repatriation arranged by the Fund/SOS it will be for your own cost.

If the travel provider has a guide service at your destination, please contact the guide.

The Fund informs the guide about the scheduled repatriation etc. It is either the Travel Guarantee Fund or SOS International A/S, who arranges repatriation for customers stranded at their travel destination due to their travel provider's bankruptcy.

As soon as possible after a bankruptcy, we will post on our website if we have had the required information from the travel provider so that we can contact the stranded customers, or if the customers must contact either us or SOS International A/S instead.

The Fund's contact information can be found here. For urgent matters outside office hours, please call (+45) 20 70 83 33.

Contact information for SOS International A/S will be posted on the Fund's website if SOS will be arranging the repatriation.

In case of emergency please contact the call service of The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Phone (+45) 33 92 00 00.

If you have bought a travel service and find that you travel provider has gone bankrupt, the Fund will most likely contact you. If your departure date is close, the Fund will try to contact you immediately. If this fails, you should on your own contact the Fund - contact information can be found here.

Unless your departure date is imminent, you must await for the Fund to contact you. Usually the travel provider's accounting will provide a list of the customers whose travel has been prevented. Subsequently the Fund will send you a letter with guidance on the proceedings and a reimbursement form.

If you have not heard from us during a few weeks after the bankruptcy, it is probably because we have not received a list of the customers. Instead you are requested to download the reimbursement form from our website and to send it to us together with the required documents.

Download the reimbursement form here.

The reimbursement form must be completed and sent by ordinary mail (i.e. not e-mail) to the Fund together with:

• your invoice
• your receipt/s for the amount paid to the travel provider

It is important that you submit the required documents.Otherwise proceedings may be delayed.

The Fund recommends that you make copies of your documents before sending them to us.

When the Fund has received and registered your claim you will receive an e-mail confirmation. The e-mail includes your reference number to which you must refer if you want to contact the Fund.

The processing time varies depending on the number of customers involved in the bankruptcy. We deal with the claims in the order of the customers' departure date.

When the claim has been considered you will get a notice from the Fund - either to let you know that your compensation will be transferred to your bank account or to let you know why your claim has been rejected.

If you wish to book a travel with another travel provider, you can check if it is possible for you to transfer your claim to one of the other travel providers who are registered in the Fund - if the travel provider agrees to the arrangement. Instead of transferring your claim to you after having considered it, we will pay the compensation to your new travel provider.

In this case you must pass on the completed original reimbursement form to your new travel provider together with your invoice and receipt/bank statements. Remember to fill out section 5 on the reimbursement form with the name of your new travel provider and the amount you would like the Fund to pay to your new travel provider. The Fund cannot pay more than what you are entitled to regarding the bankrupt travel provider. If it is found that your travel is not covered by the Fund, you must pay your new travel provider yourself.

The Fund was established in accordance with an Act of 1979. The latest Act is no. 1101 of September 3rd 2015.

Download The Promulgation of the Travel Guarantee Fund Act here.

The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority has issued an executive order on registration, provision of security etc. It is no. 1421 of December 3rd 2015.

Download The Executive Order here.

The board of directors of the Travel Guarantee Fund consists of one chairman and six members. The board is appointed by the Minister for Business and Growth. The Board has engaged a secretariat to handle administration etc. The Fund's articles and the board's rules of procedure are laid down by the board and approved by the Minister.

The articles and rules of procedure - in Danish - can be found here: "Organisation".

Within six months after the expiry of a calendar year the Fund renders an annual account, audited by the National Audit Office of Denmark (Rigsrevisionen).

The latest annual report - in Danish - can be found here: "Årsrapporter".