Research On The Impact Of The Countermeasures Against COVID-19 On The Performance Of The Package Tour Contracts Of Travel Agencies

At the beginning of 2020,the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 has seriously affected the normal operation of the national economy and tourism.The package price travel contracts signed between travel agencies and tourists before leaving are also difficult to fully perform due to the epidemic,and even lead to a series of disputes,leading to difficulties in the operation of travel agencies and dissatisfaction of tourists.The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 on package travel contracts,and propose specific solutions,so as to provide reference for tourism theory researchers and practitioners to choose legal,compliant and reasonable solutions when encountering the crisis of force majeure.On the basis of a comprehensive review of domestic and foreign scholars’ research on package tour contracts,this study analyzes the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on national economy,tourism and travel agencies from macro,meso and micro levels,and makes a deep discussion on the implementation of package tour contracts during the epidemic period and the actual cases caused by them by using in-depth interviews,text analysis and case studies.Six countermeasures are put forward,such as termination of contract,change of contract,complaint,mediation,arbitration and litigation,and then "Class B management" is further put forward.After the epidemic,specific management enlightenment is put forward for travel agency managers from four aspects: purchasing epidemic prevention travel insurance,controlling contract disputes,properly handling aftermath,and improving crisis management system,and research conclusions are drawn.Specific research conclusions: it is difficult for travel agencies to perform package travel contracts and tourists’ travel activities are disturbed or even terminated under the epidemic situation in COVID-19,which will inevitably affect the normal business activities of travel agencies and tourists’ travel activities.Travel agencies should pay close attention to tourists’ reasonable demands while dealing with them according to laws and regulations,strive for win-win results,create good conditions,lay a solid foundation,establish an excellent brand image,and create a better development situation for the promotion of the overall competitiveness of travel agencies in China.Finally,the shortcomings of this study and the future research direction are pointed out.